Opinions of emerging adults about their sharenting experiences: A qualitative study

The behavior of parents sharing personal information about their children and images such as photos and videos on social media is defined as 'sharenting'. This phrase is derived from a combination of the words "Share" and "Parenting". It is emphasized that the digital footprints of children in their parents' social media posts may have long-term consequences in their future employment and academic life. Even if parents get their children's consent, these posts may not be approved by their children. Research on sharenting to date has mainly focused on parents' motivation to share and the content they share online. There are no studies on the sharenting experiences of youngs in emerging adulthood, where physical privacy and parental interventionism play a decisive role in relations with parents, and how this phenomenon may affect their future (such as employment and digital footprint). The main purpose of this research is to examine and describe the experiences of emerging adults who are exposed to their parents' sharenting behavior with a holistic approach and in detail. In this study, which was designed according to a qualitative research design, data on the sharenting experiences of emerging adults were collected through individual and focus group interviews using the phenomenology method. Themes, sub-themes and categories were created by analyzing the views of the participants about their experiences of being exposed to sharenting behavior. The findings related to the feelings and perceived parental motivations of emerging adults regarding the sharenting experience, their coping methods against the sharenting behavior, their expectations from their parents, and the effect of this new phenomenon on their future are discussed. Then, suggestions were made to researchers and practitioners.