Sharenting: The Hidden Dangers of Sharing Our Kids on Social Media

The birth announcement. The cake smash. The first-day-of-school photo. The family holiday highlight reel.  We see these posts every day on social media. But behind every smiling photo lies a growing digital safety and privacy risk that can impact our children now and for many years to come.

The Digital Footprint They Didn’t Choose

Our digital footprint is the trail of information about us online. For most adults, we built that trail ourselves when we joined social media and began creating our digital lives. But today’s children often have their footprints created for them by their families.

In fact, many babies are born digitally before they are born physically, with 81% of 2-year-olds having an online presence¹. Over the years, every new post adds layers of data. Whether it’s names, birthdays, schools, hobbies, routines, and even medical or behavioural details, it becomes a detailed identity profile that children can’t easily erase.

As they grow and begin to understand the vastness and permanence of the internet, many experience embarrassment, anger, or anxiety when they discover how much of their childhood was shared without their consent.

And it’s not just emotional harm at stake. That digital trail can also be exploited by criminals and hackers. Birth announcements, holiday photos, or “first day” pictures can help someone piece together enough information to guess passwords, answer security questions, or even open fraudulent accounts in your child’s name.

Barclays Bank predicts that by 2030, two-thirds of identity theft and fraud cases will be linked to sharenting².

Phishing and Cyber Risks

Scammers and hackers can craft convincing phishing emails and scams using social media information, such as:

• “Hi, it’s the coach from Tigers FC, click here for details about Sunday’s match.”

• “Your direct debit for Noah’s football lessons didn’t go through. Please pay here to keep his place.”

The more we post about our children’s activities, schools, or routines, the easier it becomes for fraudsters to manipulate that information, either to scam parents now, or children later.

With the rise of AI-powered scams, these risks are increasing. Scammers can clone voices from short videos or use personal details to target family members. Even simple information like a pet’s name or favourite holiday destination can help hackers guess passwords or security answers.

Psychological Distress and Emotional Impact

When personal moments are posted online, children can feel anxious, angry or exposed by what’s out there about them. Old posts can resurface years later, fuelling cyberbullying and emotional distress.

Research shows:

• 25% of children say they felt angry when they discovered photos of themselves had been shared without permission³.

• 46% said they felt anxious and out of control when they realised how permanent and vast the internet really is⁴.

  
  

Even private posts can escape your control through screenshots or sharing. Once an image leaves your phone, you lose control of where it goes next.

Exposure to Predators

Innocent photos of our families can be manipulated and misused, and predators use social media to collect children’s images. With AI tools, they can now generate explicit material from otherwise harmless photos.

A study found that half of all publicly shared images of children end up on child abuse forums⁵. One dark-web user even wrote, “Thank God for Insta mums,” celebrating the amount of publicly posted child content.

In 2023, an investigation uncovered more than 20,000 AI-generated child abuse images circulating online, many of which were created from celebrity children⁶.

FILTER Framework developed by Chelsea Jarvie

The FILTER Framework

With all these risks and concerns, how do we take part in social media securely? In 2025, it can be difficult not to post at all so to help families share more safely, I developed the FILTER Framework. It’s a simple tool to help parents make more informed choices about what they post and how they protect their family’s privacy.

F — Frame: How am I framing this content? Am I revealing more than I mean to?

I — Intent: Why am I posting? Is it benefitting me or my child?

L — Limit: Who will see it? Can I keep this to close friends and family only?

T — Think: Will this still feel okay in 5, 10, or 15 years?

E — Empower: Have I asked for consent from my child or anyone else in the photo?

R — Reflect: Am I still ok with what I previously posted? What should I take down?

FILTER isn’t about guilt or giving up social media. It’s about having the confidence to post securely and helping you post with intention while protecting your child’s digital footprint.

Share the Joy & Protect the Child

This isn’t a call to disappear from the internet! It’s about making informed choices and having the knowledge and confidence to share securely.

If you’d like a guided, practical approach, my book #PleaseFilter: Secure Sharing for Parents and Families dives deeper into the risks and offers detailed guidance on how to apply the FILTER framework at home.

I also run interactive workshops with practical advice and live Q&A sessions for parents and carers. Check it out, and sign up!

Chelsea Jarvie recently run a sharenting workshop which was filmed and broadcast by STV

By Chelsea Jarvie — Cybersecurity Leader, Global Keynote Speaker, and Author of #PleaseFilter: Secure Sharing Guide for Parents & Families

References

1.     Ferrara, P. et al. (2023) ‘Online “sharenting”: The dangers of posting sensitive information about children on social media’, The Journal of Pediatrics, 257, p. 113322. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.01.002.

2.     Baron, J. (2018) ‘Parents who post about their kids online could be damaging their futures.’ Forbes, 16 December. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessicabaron/2018/12/16/parents-who-post-about-their-kids-online-could-be-damaging-their-futures/

3.     UK Safer Internet Centre. (2019). Our Internet, Our Choice Report. [online] Available at: https://saferinternet.org.uk/blog/our-internet-our-choice-report.

4.     UK Safer Internet Centre. (2019). Our Internet, Our Choice Report. [online] Available at: https://saferinternet.org.uk/blog/our-internet-our-choice-report.

5.     Khatsenkova, S. (2023). ‘Sharenting’: France to stop parents oversharing children’s images. [online] euronews. Available at: https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/03/10/sharenting-why-is-france-trying-to-stop-parents-from-oversharing-their-childrens-images-on.

6.     Internet Watch Foundation (n.d.) ‘How AI is being abused to create child sexual abuse imagery.’ Available at: https://www.iwf.org.uk/about-us/why-we-exist/our-research/how-ai-is-being-abused-to-create-child-sexual-abuse-imagery/