New Parenting Social Media Trend Gives Children Privacy: ‘No Longer A Kids Show’
By Movieguide Contributor
Social media influencers and “Mommy Bloggers” typically give followers a personal look into their lives and the lives of their children, yet a new trend has emerged.
The days of “sharenting” (oversharing about children on social media) are over, and respecting kids’ privacy is in.
“I literally think about it every single day,” Grant Khanbalinov, a TikTok personality with 3.2 million followers, recently told The Washington Post. “Why we were doing it for so long and what impact this is going to have on the kids as they get older.” His TikTok profile now reads, “No longer a kids show,” per the parenting app Tinybeans.
“I went from this average person, this nobody, to getting brand deals,” Khanbalinov said. “All this money is coming in. People are inviting us to places and noticing us and our kids on the street.”
It was all fun and games until Redditors accused him and his wife of exploiting his children. Khanbalinov shared with The Washington Post that his breaking point came when a family trip to Disney World had his children posing for pictures instead of enjoying the park. He decided to stop posting content about his little ones.
Another influencer, Kristin Gallant, who is part of the parenting brand Big Little Feelings, posted a similar sentiment on her Instagram stories.
“Okay, so there’s going to be a little change here at Big Little Feelings,” Gallant shared. “I don’t want to disappoint any of you…but I’ve taken a full year to weigh pros, cons, and do research. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to remove the girls’ faces from social media. I’m still going to share my real raw vulnerable life; that’s never going away. And this is no judgment on whether you share your kids on social media or you don’t, but sharing them with 2.7 million people is very, very different. And so now I have to consider their safety.”
The potential dangers of AI-generated imagery are also driving parents to share fewer images of their children on social media. According to PureWow, Leah Plunkett, the author of ‘Sharenthood’ recently told NewsNation Live: “…existing generative AI tools and emerging ones are remarkably sophisticated at producing realistic images based on photographs of real children. So a step that parents as well as grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, coaches and other trusted adults can take now is to limit or stop sharenting.”
Movieguide previously reported on the dangers of AI technology:
As AI technology becomes more prevalent, many parents are worried about what that might mean for their kids.
“Most of the worldviews of these [AI] organizations are antithetical to the majority of Americans,” Movieguide® CEO Robby Baehr said during an episode of “The Familyguide Podcast.” “They’ve trained these [programs] on junk.”
Baehr pointed out that because these AI programs are fed content from all corners of the internet, they frequently generate “horrible things” for people using the new tech.
For worried parents, Baehr recommended caution and awareness.
“I think it is important for a parent just to be careful,” he said. “To understand, to be aware and to be knowledgeable about it.”
During these dangerous times with the exploitation of innocent children, it’s encouraging to see parents taking steps to protect their kids on social media. This is one 2024 parenting trend that Movieguide® can wholeheartedly support.
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