Social networks have changed many paradigms of our lives and the way we behave with our children is not exempt from it. If you are an active parent on these platforms and you are used to sharing content in which your children are present , it can give clear clues to your parenting style, or at least that is what a study carried out by the University of Bloomington reveals.
This was carried out by collecting information from 493 parents of children under 10 years of age in the United States in which they collected information on behaviors related to parenting and the use of social networks. One of the most striking points is that most parents use them frequently, share open photos of their children and feel comfortable doing so without their children’s permission.
Another important finding they made is that parents who regularly post photos of their children on social media tend to be more permissive , often associated with having a more friend-like parenting style.
“ We were surprised ,” says Mary Jean Amon, an assistant professor in the UCF School of Modeling, Simulation, and Training (SMST) and one of the study’s researchers. “ Contrary to previous research that highlights the significant benefits of sharing with parents, our study reveals that sharing photos of children is associated with permissive parenting styles. That means that sharing with parents is linked to those parents having more friendly relationships with their children and offering less guidance than other parents. In particular, permissive parenting has been linked to problematic Internet use among children .”
Parents more active in social networks and younger children with their own accounts
The study also found that permissive parenting tends to be associated with early social media use in children . It is true that in theory, all platforms have a minimum age of 13 to create an account, but we all know that the verification systems are weak and that it is enough to click to confirm that you have the required age.
The fundamental problem highlighted by the researchers is the fact that parents share the image of their children on their social networks and these normalize it, it could desensitize children to share their own information later . It’s important to note that they don’t know what privacy is, and while more research is needed in this area, it raises questions about how best to protect that privacy and keep them safe. Maybe start by pampering ourselves, respecting their image and teaching them why it is important not to share everything we do, especially with strangers ?
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