On the Flaunting of Fleshy Facsimiles

First off, I'm not a parent and I don't know if I ever will be, but even as an outsider it is possible to understand the pride and affection people feel toward their progeny. Humans (most of us, anyway) are hardwired with protective instincts in this regard - which is generally a good thing because if not, we'd probably eat our young.

However, given that the latest generation of adults is the first to raise children in an environment of instantly accessible social media on a global scale, an odd - and in my view unhealthy - phenomenon has arisen.

Many parents, some of whom are my friends, seem compelled to publicly document almost every aspect of their kids' lives, whether significant or minor. They generate an ongoing stream of photos, videos and status updates which are available for all and sundry to see. The practice has become so common that some sociologists refer to it as "sharenting".

The purpose of this piece is not to complain about how I'd rather not have my newsfeed inundated with the mundane achievements of other people's ankle-biters (though that's often true). My goal is to caution young parents about the dangers inherent in oversharing.

Almost every computer-literate person today uses some form of social media to keep in touch with friends and family; because our interactions are of a largely informal nature, it's easy to forget that by definition, these are public spaces  Yes, your accounts may be protected with passwords and privacy settings, but these measures are by no means guaranteed to prevent the advances of a truly motivated predator.

When posts involving children include geotags, in other words a digital signifier of where you were when you uploaded them, criminals and sex-offenders can use this information to build a timeline of their targets' movements and habits, thereby making it far easier to do harm in the real world.

Safety risks aside, there's also an ethical quandary to consider. By posting a dossier of intimate details about your child's life, you're creating an online presence which they had no hand in building and more importantly, they lack the necessary psychological maturity to consent to your actions. Think back to your own youth, would you have wanted your parents to digitally immortalise everything you did?

I am not condemning the use of social media, it has improved our lives in many ways and is the very reason I'm able to communicate this message to you. I'm simply suggesting that as an adult, you should think critically about whether or not the type and frequency of your "parent posts" are appropriate. To conclude, here's an article from UK publication, the Daily Mail which starkly demonstrates how dangerous the online world can be if it isn't navigated with a watchful eye.