Health experts are warning parents against oversharing details about their children on social media, warning that doing so could have long-term effects on their children’s mental health.
“Sharenting” refers to “digital oversharing – the excessive posting of information, photos, stories and updates about your children’s lives,” according to a Cleveland Clinic article published Wednesday.
Examples of sharenting include publicly disclosing personal milestones in a child’s life, such as completing potty training or a girl’s first period. Posting about a mistake a child made or an injury they sustained while playing can also be humiliating for a child.
Dr Susan Albers, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said even more innocuous posts, like sharing a child’s good report card, can have a negative impact on a child’s self-esteem.
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Doctors have warned that sharing information about children online can have a negative impact on their self-esteem. (iStock)
“Sometimes parents can unconsciously put pressure on their children by creating an idealized image of themselves online,” she explained, “which can lead to low self-esteem and self-worth.”
Albers added that even if parents have good intentions in their posts, oversharing details about their children’s lives “comes with a lot of grey area.”
“Sharenting involves a lot of grey areas regarding children’s rights to privacy, autonomy, protection and informed consent,” Albers said. “Some countries have put in place regulations to help parents feel safe sharing.”
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“Sharenting” is when parents overshare information about their children online. (iStock)
“But the U.S. doesn’t have many laws to protect children online. Each person has to decide for themselves when their social media use crosses the line.”
While the full impact of sharenting is still unclear, experts warn that the mental health issues it causes are starting to appear among teenagers, citing the example of teenage patients who have brought up their parents’ digital behavior in counseling sessions.
“Teens, especially, bring this up because their parents are sharing information that makes them uncomfortable,” she said.
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Oversharing information about children online has been linked to mental health problems. (iStock)
“We need to understand the long-term emotional impacts sharenting has on children; these are unseen and cannot be speculated on yet because they have not been studied,” she added.
Dr. Mark Siegel, a Fox News medical correspondent, echoed Albers’ concerns in an interview Wednesday. He said sharenting can occur when parents become “obsessed” with their social media engagement, posting more and more personal information in an attempt to elicit responses.
“Let’s not forget that kids are already feeling ostracized, marginalized, lonely and isolated because of social media treatment and bullying,” he explained. “Studies have shown that this leads to increased anxiety, lower self-esteem, depression and even suicidal thoughts in the majority of teenage girls.”
Experts warn that even well-intentioned posts about infants and young children can be harmful to children. (iStock)
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“The last thing our children need are parents who, whether intentionally or not, essentially add fuel to the fire by treating their children in an exploitative way.”
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