Sharenting and the extended self: self-representation in parents’ Instagram presentations of their children

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Sharenting
• social media
• visual analysis
• self-representation
• extended self
• parents

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Steven Holiday

Steven Holiday (Ph.D., Texas Tech University) is an assistant professor at The University of Alabama, where his research includes a focus on the influence that media targeted toward or featuring children has on parents' consumer behaviors and consumer identities.

Mary S. Norman

Mary S. Norman (Ph.D., Texas Tech University) is an assistant professor of practice at Texas Tech University. Her research employs quantitative and qualitative methods and centers on media effects of gender and divorce depictions on children and families.

Rebecca L. Densley

Rebecca L. Densley (Ph.D., Texas Tech University) is an assistant professor at Trinity University. Her research focuses on the ways in which children, adolescents, and parents interact with media in an attempt to help families successfully navigate media together.