Are You Oversharing Online About Your Kids or Grandkids?

“Sharenting” can risk children’s privacy, safety, and well-being

It’s all too tempting to share adorable photos or videos of your kids or grandkids on social media. After all, you like to post about your own daily life, and your kids are an integral part of it. Besides, everyone loves these posts—you might notice that photos or videos featuring your kids get high levels of engagement, including the most likes and positive comments. As just one example, many parents or caregivers like to post back-to-school photos of their kids, with the child holding a “first day of school” sign including their name and grade.

The custom of sharing kids’ lives online is so prevalent, there’s even a term for it: sharenting. According to the National Institutes of Health, sharenting is defined as “the practice of parents, caregivers or relatives sharing information about their children (underage) online, typically on some online platforms. This can include photos, videos, personal stories, and other updates about the child’s life.”

The risks involved in sharenting

Oversharing about your kids online—and revealing sensitive personal information about them—can carry a number of risks to their privacy, safety, and well-being. Bad actors could use these personal details to track down your child’s location, commit identity theft, or attempt to hack into your accounts. Your kids could also be subjected to cyberbullying or harassment.

Don’t forget the mental and emotional toll that sharenting can have on children. In an article for Psychology Today, Robyn Koslowitz, Ph.D, writes, “If your goal is to raise emotionally secure, resilient children, then the first step is giving them the dignity of privacy.” She reminds parents and caregivers that “a child cannot give informed consent to being the subject of public scrutiny.” Her article cites studies showing that sharenting can have a range of negative impacts on children, not only regarding increased risks of identity fraud and digital kidnapping, but also psychological harm including damage to self-esteem.

How to avoid oversharing about your kids

Follow these tips from the Better Business Bureau to better protect your kids when you share photos:

• Avoid sharing personal details about your child, including identifiable information (name, age, school, teacher, grade level) within photos. Scammers could use this information to attempt to commit identity theft.
• Choose generic backgrounds for your photos. Avoid showing identifiable location markers such as house numbers, street signs, school signs, bus stops, or other landmarks.
• Review your social media privacy settings regularly, and be mindful of who can view your posts.

Note that the rules for photos also apply to videos. Avoid oversharing in text posts as well: Any mentions of your child’s name, school, grade level, birthday, favorite locations, or other personal details can be used by bad actors to build a profile for future targeting.

Avoid trendy “fixes” to privacy issues. For example, following a trend that began among celebrities, some parents have taken to covering their children’s faces with emojis when posting photos of them. But this doesn’t provide total privacy protection, especially if you’re posting multiple images over time. Along the way, you could be revealing potentially identifiable information such as logos on clothing, exterior home details, or school locations.

In her Psychology Today article, Robyn Koslowitz recommends the following ethical digital practices for parents:

• Limit sharing of kids’ photos and related information to private, trusted platforms such as a family-only WhatsApp chat. Avoid more public forums like global Instagram reels.
• Before posting, ask yourself whether you’d want a similar event (a tantrum, a moment of discipline, a medical update) shared about yourself.
• Before you publish a photo online, think long-term about how your child might feel about that photo later in life.
• If you’re posting something just because it gets engagement, ask yourself whether it’s really worth it.

Peace of mind comes with planning

It’s possible to share parts of your kids’ lives online without subjecting them to potential harm—it just requires discretion and forethought about what you’re sharing, how and where you’re sharing it, and who could potentially see it.

Finally, if you’re seeking comprehensive privacy and identity protection year-round for you and your entire family, consider a package such as IDX’s Complete Plan. It offers a Family option with coverage for two adults and up to five minor dependents under the age of 18. The plan features an array of advanced tools and services built to defend against common cyberthreats. Among the tools are ForgetMe PII Removal, which periodically scans data broker websites to find your records and remove your personal information—such as home addresses and phone numbers—from their database.