The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Hospital National poll on childrens health has presented new data showing that parents have shared enough on social media to create a new catchphrase: sharenting.
Its a term that many will understand immediately, due to the tidal wave of parents pictures, videos, and posts on social media networks about their children bragging, ranting, praising, and otherwise.
Released this week, the survey resultsshow that 74 percent of parents polled think other parents share too much information about their children on social media, thus oversharenting with others.
Of the parents polled, 84 percent of mothers and 70 percent of fathers reported using social media sites like Facebook, online forums, or blogs.
Many parents take to social media to find a community of peers who understand their experiences. The most popular topics cited by parents included getting kids to sleep (28 percent of posts), nutrition and eating tips (26 percent), discipline (19 percent), daycare (17 percent), and behavior problems (13 percent).
Parents said that social media interactions helped them feel less isolated and were helpful in teaching them what to do with their own kids. But two-thirds of parents polled also shared concerns about online privacy. Among the biggest oversharenting taboos and concerns other parents sharing embarrassing images of their own children, posts that share a specific location of our kids, and sharing stories that could prove damaging in years ahead when the children are old enough to maintain their own social profiles.
When do the simple acts of asking for support and sharing updates about our kids snowball into potentially compromising our childrens safety, online well-being, and even isolating parents from others in their social networks?
As a blogger who has worked in social media marketing in the past, and who is raising a toddler of my own, it is tempting to use my online networks to garner sympathy from friends, support for challenges, and find an outlet for some of the highlights of parenting.
But having stumbled upon various awkward interactions online from being subjected to nude pictures of a childhood friends toddler on Facebook, to posting a protective parenting tweet that made me sound like a lunaticI have realized that some of the best interactions with others are those we leave offline.
Some of the best advice about online interactions that experts offer to teens might be the advice parents should follow as well.
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Is there too much 'oversharenting' on social media?