Sharenting and the extended self: self-representation in parents' Instagram presentations of their children. (2nd January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Holiday, Steven; Norman, Mary S.; Densley, Rebecca L.
• Is Part Of: Popular communication. Volume 20:Number 1(2022)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 15
• Publication Date: 2022-01-02
• Subjects: Sharenting -- social media -- visual analysis -- self-representation -- extended self -- parents; Mass media -- Periodicals; Popular culture -- Periodicals; 302.23
• DOI: 10.1080/15405702.2020.1744610
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1540-5702

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The sharenting practice, or the sharing of one's parenting and children online, has become a popular topic of critical focus that decries it as an exploitative disregard for children's privacy and rights. The practice is performed, however, by a population (i.e., parents) that is generally inclined to protect its children, raising the present research question of whether sharenting could be alternatively guided by self-presentational goals. Guided by the theoretical notion of the extended self, the present study qualitatively examines parents' Instagram posts using constant comparative analysis to identify how parents self-present in their sharenting posts. The results identify three self-presentational categories that illustrate how parents' social media posts that depict a parent–child relational identity may actually be intended representations of the parent's self. Implications for theory are discussed, as well as practical implications for the appropriate management of parents' identities in a manner that respects children's rights and privacy.