Parenting in the Digital Age: 3 in 5 Post Their Children's Photos On Social Media

Parenting in 2024 is much different than it was just a few years ago. Thanks to social media, cheap cameras, and the unquenchable human desire to brag, more of our lives are online than ever before.

Browse any social media feed, and you’ll find parents eagerly posting updates about their families and children, but is this even a good idea? Some parents are concerned about the amount of information they put online, especially when it concerns their children.

We surveyed parents from across the country to learn about their habits and concerns when it comes to posting pictures or information about their underage children online.

More than 3 in 5 parents we surveyed (61%) post pictures of their children (17 and younger) on social media. Of these parents, only 27% share their pictures on public accounts. The remaining 73% keep things private.

It seems the younger (and cuter) the child, the harder it is to resist showing them off. Nearly 2 in 3 (64%) surveyed parents with children under 10 post pictures of them online, with 26% posting to public accounts.

Nearly half of our survey respondents (49%) post pictures of their children’s faces on social media. Among those who do, 79% post the images on public accounts.

In recent years, more parents (including celebrities) have chosen to cover their children’s faces in pictures. Nearly 1 in 5 (19%) parents we surveyed say they cover their children’s faces. The most common method simply taking pictures that don’t show the child’s face (47%), followed by using an emoji to cover it up (31%) and blurring the child’s face (11%).

On the other hand, some parents are more lax with the photos they post. In fact, 1 in 10 parents surveyed report posting pictures of their child in only a diaper. On average, 30% of a parent’s social media posts are pictures of their children.

Regarding how often parents post pictures of their children online, 26% report doing so multiple times a month, and 45% post once a month or more. Only 29% of parents surveyed never post pictures of their kids.

As for who sees these pictures, 56% of parents surveyed share pictures with the people they’re connected with on the social media platform, 35% share pictures with a select group of close friends, and 9% report sharing pictures with the public.

Despite sharing their lives online, 81% of parents surveyed say they are concerned about their children’s privacy. The top concerns regarding online privacy include predators seeing pictures (55%), unauthorized use of images (48%), privacy invasion (39%), safety and security risks (36%), and cyberbullying (30%).

Although privacy invasions and safety risks are top concerns among parents, nearly 1 in 10 admit to tagging their location when posting pictures of their children.

Oversharing is also a concern among parents.

The term “sharenting” describes parents who publicize a large portion of their children’s lives online.

Among those surveyed, 60% are concerned about over sharenting, and 1 in 10 think they share too much about their children online.

More than 1 in 3 (35%) plan to reduce their sharenting in the next year.

“It’s a deeply personal choice for parents to decide whether or not to post images of their children online, but regardless of the decision that’s made, it should be an informed one. My wife and I are having these exact discussions right now after having our first child earlier this year,” said HostingAdvice technology expert Christian de Looper.

If you choose to post photos of your children online, there are steps you can take to ensure as much privacy as possible. This can include setting your social media accounts to “private” and only accepting friend requests from people you know. Also, avoid sharing specific details such as your child’s school, age, and location.

“The fact is that social media is a major way in which we keep our friends and family informed about our lives, and obviously, our children are one of the most important parts of our lives. That said, as we learn more about the fact that our data really isn’t our own when we upload it to the internet, parents may want to consider being a little more careful about the types of things they post when it comes to their children. And, some parents may decide to only post important events, or post pictures early on and stop posting as their children grow up.”

In July 2024, we surveyed 1,000 parents of children 17 years old and younger about social media and internet use. Participants’ ages ranged from 19 to 75, with an average age of 39. Respondents were 50% men, 49% women, and 1% nonbinary and/or chose not to disclose.

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