From the Childhood Past: Views of Young Adults on Parental Sharing of Children's Photos

Parents increasingly post content about their children on social media. While such sharing serves beneficial interactive purposes, it can create immediate and longitudinal privacy risks for the children. Studies on parental content sharing have investigated perceptions of parents and children, leaving out those of young adults between the ages of 18 and 30. We addressed this gap via a questionnaire asking young adults about their perspectives on parental sharing of children's photos on social media. We found that young adults who had content about them shared by their parents during childhood and those who were parents expressed greater acceptance of parental sharing practices in terms of motives, content, and audiences. Our findings indicate the need for system features, policies, and digital literacy campaigns to help parents balance the interactive benefits of sharing content about their children and protecting the children's online footprints.