Sharenting: A Conceptual Analysis

The use of the Internet and social media has increasingly become widespread. Social media has become an important part of daily life. Thanks to social media, people can receive and offer services in many fields such as education, entertainment, and trade. Social media which is effective in the daily life of many people from different walk of life has also reflected in parents’ routines. The purpose of the current study is to define the concept of sharenting within the framework of the literature and explain the development process of the concept, express the reasons for the parents’ sharenting behaviour, address the problems created by the sharenting behaviour, and examine the sharenting behaviour within the framework of national and international legal regulations. Sharenting refers to sharing content about children by parents in digital media. The concept of sharenting in English emerges from the combination of the terms “sharing” and “parenting”. Along with studies on the concept of sharenting start- ed in 2012, the first academic study was conducted in 2015. The first study on the concept of sharenting in Turkey was carried out in 2016. “Sharenting” is a new, current, and popular concept in both international and national literature. Although the concept can be translated into Turkish as “paylaşan ebeveynlik”, there is no corresponding translation of the concept in Turk- ish as widely accepted. However, having a Turkish equivalent for the concept can be effective in raising and creating awareness of this behaviour in people. Therefore, one of the ways that many parts of the society, especially parents, can internalize the related concept expressively is to create a Turkish expression for the concept. It can be recommended for language experts and academicians working in the field of language education and teaching to find or create a response to the related concept that society can adopt. Besides, the Turkish Language Association (TDK) can also carry out studies on this subject. Today’s parents who have adopted the use of social media use social media for different purposes such as discussing their parenthood, finding solutions to parenting issues and giving advice to other parents, providing social interaction. Shar- enting is effective in fulfilling some of the needs of parents. In fact, parents can fulfil some of their learning needs with sharing. It also provides parents with social interaction and communication opportunities with other parents. Besides, sharenting is also effective in fulfilling some affective needs such as the acceptance of parental identity and appreciation of parenting practices. Thus, sharenting is an activity which offers opportunities to parents. However, when parents share by using their parental identities, they also include their children. Parents think that there is not any situation in which their children are exposed to harmful effects while sharing. However, every share on social media about children exposes them to some digital risks. Even the disclosure of parents’ identity through children may trigger ethical problems. The ignorance of the possible consequences of the sharenting behaviour on children is the reason for the uncon- scious violation of the privacy of children by the parents. The problem with sharenting is that parents configure their children’s digital identities without their children’s consent. Indeed, children’s digital identities should be created by themselves, not by their parents. The reason is that children are individuals who have the capacity to have rights. Therefore, this situation causes a violation of personal rights. The children’s satisfaction with their parent’s share is also unknown. As a result, it is foreseen that parents will have to encounter some legal processes in the future. Hence, the fact that the defendant-complainant re- lationship will be a parent-child relationship should be known. However, when considering the cultural structure of Turkey, it is predicted that the children’s complaints against their parents will be lower than in Western culture. However, regardless of the situation, national and international legislation and legislative regulations are in favor of the children’s interests. Social media platforms can be sensitive to prevent the parent-child conflicts arising from the sharenting behaviour and as a precau- tion they can provide a kind of warning before sharing. In the content shared, the user can be notified before sharing by using the face and word recognition systems. It is possible that shares in a way that does not risk the children’s safety, personality and existence as an individual are reasonable. However, there is no well-accepted criterion describing the ‘reasonable’ level. Although there is no regulation on what information parents can share about their children in many countries, it is considered that it is not possible to find a global solution. However, non-governmental organizations such as the Family Online Safety Institute can develop a common approach to the relevant situation and can ensure that the reasonable sharenting level is determined. The developed ap- proach can also be used as a government policy regarding the sharenting behaviour. Initiatives to determine the reasonable level can be supported by extensive research such as the European Children Online Project (EU Kids Online) including Turkey and other 24 European countries and Global Kids Online supported by UNICEF.