RICHMOND, Va. — It’s no secret that parents like to talk about their children — in person and on social media. But a new study at the University of Michigan finds sharing too much on social media could have some bad results.
USA Today reports on the study, which found that more than half of mothers use social media to ask for advice about raising children on Facebook — like asking health questions. They also use it to talk about their children, sometimes sharing potentially embarrassing information. This is a trend being called “over-sharenting.”
The reason — three-quarters of parents say sharing on social media makes them feel ‘less alone.’
The problem — over-sharing could lead to cyberbullying. Years after it’s been shared, classmates of a child could find a potentially-embarrassing detail and harass the child over it.
Over-sharing could also lead to ‘digital kidnapping,’ which happens when someone steals another’s personal pictures and uses them for their own benefit.
