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Are You Over-Sharenting? You’re Not Alone!
Let’s be real, we’ve all been there. I found myself in a bit of a pickle when my kids started getting recognized in public. It hit me that I might have gone a tad overboard with sharing their lives online. According to a University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital poll, I’m definitely not the only one. A whopping majority of moms and a good number of dads are sharing child health updates and parenting moments on social media. But the question lingers: where do we draw the line? Is posting that cute pic of my son during his potty training escapade too much? Please, don’t answer that.
As Sarah J. Clark, M.P.H., from the C.S. Mott poll points out, by the time kids are old enough to dive into social media, they already have a digital footprint sculpted by their parents. The line between sharing and oversharing can easily get fuzzy. What seems hilarious today might be utterly mortifying for them tomorrow. And let’s face it, once it’s out there, there’s no taking it back.
Interestingly enough, our kids are ghosting the social media scenes we’ve curated for them. My 12-year-old tells me, “Facebook is for old people,” while they flock to platforms like SnapChat and Oovoo, where they can control their own narratives. They’re getting clever about avoiding our oversharing by simply not engaging with it. How smart is that? It’s almost like they’re making our attempts at sharing their lives irrelevant.
So maybe it’s time for me to rethink my online presence—and get to work on those belfies!
And if you want to dive deeper into topics like this, check out one of our other blog posts here. For those exploring home insemination, Make a Mom has some great resources. Also, the CDC offers solid information on pregnancy and home insemination.
In summary, we’re all guilty of oversharing to some extent, but as our kids start to forge their own identities online, they’re taking control of what gets shared. So maybe it’s time we step back and let them dictate their digital footprint.