Book chapter
The ‘sharent’ trap: Parenting in the digital age and a child’s right to privacy
Young Children’s Rights in a Digital World: Play, design and practice, pp.283-297
Children's Well-Being: Indicators and Research, 23, Springer International Publishing
2021
Abstract
In the age of ‘sharenting’ (i.e. parents sharing content about their children on social media), it is timely to consider how parents conceive of a child’s right to privacy and the consequences of their sharing practices for their children, for the digitisation of childhood and for childhood itself.
This chapter draws on 600 responses to a national survey investigating how Australian parents viewed the practice of sharing content of their children on Facebook and Instagram. Early findings from the study suggest that the majority of parents surveyed regularly shared content such as photos and videos of their young children online and did not appear to prioritise their children’s right to privacy in these digital activities. Indeed, a third did not believe their children had any right to privacy at all.
Parental attitudes to children as the subject of an audience’s social media gaze contrast sharply with the societal understanding that children constitute a special audience of media, and one whose immaturity and vulnerability render them deserving of our protection. Clearly children as an audience are treated entirely differently from children as the subject of an assumed audience’s gaze, an emerging disconnect which deserves greater investigation.
Details
- Title
- The ‘sharent’ trap: Parenting in the digital age and a child’s right to privacy
- Authors
- Anna Potter (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Creative Industries - LegacyRenee Barnes (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Creative Industries - Legacy
- Contributors
- Donell Holloway (Editor) - Edith Cowan UniversityMichele Wilson (Editor) - Curtin UniversityKaren Murcia (Editor) - Curtin UniversityCatherine Archer (Editor) - Murdoch UniversityFrancesca Stocco (Editor) - Edith Cowan University
- Publication details
- Young Children’s Rights in a Digital World: Play, design and practice, pp.283-297
- Series
- Children's Well-Being: Indicators and Research; 23
- Publisher
- Springer International Publishing
- Date published
- 2021
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-030-65916-5_21; 10.1007/978-3-030-65916-5
- ISSN
- 1879-520X
- ISBN
- 9783030659165
- Organisation Unit
- School of Creative Industries - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Engage Research Lab; School of Business and Creative Industries
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99483107302621
- Output Type
- Book chapter
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