Updated: Aug. 19, 2015
Originally Published: March 19, 2015
Let’s be honest—who hasn’t been there? I used to judge parents who shared every little detail about their kids online, but then my own children started getting recognized in public, and I realized I might be knee-deep in the oversharenting trend myself. According to a poll from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, I’m not alone. Over half of moms and a third of dads admit to posting about their kids’ health and parenting experiences on social media.
But where do we draw the line between sharing and oversharing? Was that adorable photo of my son missing the potty target during training a bit too much? Please, don’t answer that.
“By the time kids reach an age where they can use social media, many already have a digital footprint crafted by their parents,” explains Jamie Robinson, M.P.H., an associate director at the C.S. Mott poll and a research scientist in the U-M Department of Pediatrics. “The line between sharing and oversharing can easily get blurry. What seems cute to us might be embarrassing for them later, and once it’s online, it’s hard to take back. They have little control over who sees it or where it ends up.”
Or do they? In a clever twist, our kids are simply opting out of the oversharenting showcase we’ve curated for them. Instead of joining us on Facebook—where my 12-year-old insists, “Facebook is for old people posting lame pics”—over 11 million young people have ditched the platform since 2011. Even Instagram is now considered outdated, thanks to the surge of parental posts and the “pics or it didn’t happen” mentality.
So, where are they headed? To platforms we’re not privy to, like SnapChat, Oovoo, Whisper, and Secret. These are spaces where they can shape their own online identity and share content that’s more fleeting. Pretty crafty, right? Our kids are basically rendering our oversharenting efforts obsolete by simply not engaging with it. I guess it’s time for me to start practicing those belfies!
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In summary, while we might be guilty of oversharenting, our kids are taking back the reins of their online identities, opting for platforms where they can control their narratives. So, let’s check ourselves before we wreck ourselves—after all, no one wants to be that parent!