Sharenting, Age, and Child Privacy

[Dr. Stacey Steinberg]: I think that it’s really important to think about the age and also the developmental level of a child, which could be different for two different children. I think that when kids are really young, we really have the duty to shepherd their digital footprint towards adulthood and try to think of how they would feel not only now, but years in the future if information was shared. We can also talk about consent differently. So with, like, a four-year-old, we could talk about, you know, “This is a great moment, I’m really excited to be doing this with you. Can we share it with my friends? Can I share it with my family?” And then you can start to kind of gauge their reaction, their level of embarrassment, their level of pride. I have three kids and each one feels very differently about information about them being shared, and so having that conversation, I think, is just a really important way that we can show them that we value what they have to say.