Study: 68% of American Parents Share Photos of Their Kids Online

A troubling new study sheds light into how many parents “overshare” and post photos and videos of their kids online

Pretty much all of us are guilty of it: You see a sweet moment happening with your kids, whip out your phone, snap a quick photo or video, and then share it online so your friends and family can see, too. It seems harmless enough. But where should parents be drawing the line between sharing and oversharing? And in an age of increasing concerns about privacy, is it really OK to put photos and videos of your young kids on the internet?

A new study by Secure Data Recovery found some pretty troubling trends and statistics when surveyed Americans about their online sharing habits. They found that a whopping 73 percent of people don’t personally know everyone who views their posts—all while 68 percent of respondents admitted to sharing photos or making posts about their kids.

There are a few issues with this: as much as you love your kids—and love witnessing every precious moment—your friends and family may not share the sentiment as much as you think. The study found that 75 percent of people think parents overshare about their children online. And from a safety standpoint, they might actually be correct—many parents share personal identifying information about their kids online without a second thought. Take those “back to school” sign photos, for example. Many of them state the child’s age and teacher’s name. When taken on the front porch in view of your house numbers, they can even make it easy for a stranger to track down your address. Yikes.

This is not just an issue for American parents; however, other countries seem to be cracking down more. Lawmakers in France are considering penalties for parents who overshare about their kids in ways that might put them in danger.

So before you post that next pic or vid of your kids, pause for a moment and ask yourself: do my followers want and need to see this, and is this the safest thing to post about my family? If the answer to either of those questions is no, that might be a memory you should treasure just for yourself or with a very select few. The good news is, that’s easier than ever before with a private photo-sharing app like Tinybeans (get more info and download here!), which puts you in total control of who sees and interacts with your photos and videos.