Sharenting and digital rights of children and teenagers

Abstract

Sharenting -dissemination on social networks of images and comments about children, minors, by their parents-, is a growing phenomenon (Kopecky et al., 2020; Bessant, 2018). The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the use of social networks, especially during the months of confinement. Social networks have helped to alleviate the separation, and to the extent that communication with family and friends has been frequent, they have also contributed to an increase in sharenting (Saud; Mashud; Ida, 2020). It is still unknown if this phenomenon is specific or if, on the contrary, confinement has contributed to changing social attitudes towards this parental activity (Bessant; Nottingham; Oswald, 2020). In any case, the need to reflect on the consequences and on the rights that come into play in sharenting has become evident. The research presented studies sharenting from the right to freedom of expression of parents, and the rights to private life of children under their guardianship and their digital identity; also from the perspective of the minor´s vision of this parental activity. A review of the bibliography shows the variety of arguments that have expressed the modalities of balance between these rights present in sharenting. The research is completed with a survey of children and adolescents between 13 and 18 years old, carried out in March 2020. This is how we respond to the criticism of the studies on the rights of minors for not including their own vision (Cowden, 2016).