NFL
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Shield Their Children Online: Is ‘Sharenting’ on the Way Out?…👇👇👇
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s new Christmas card features only a glimpse of their kids, Archie and Lilibet. They’re not the only parents keeping their children under wraps online. (Juancho Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are never out of the public eye, but their two kids — Archie, 5, and Lilibet, 3 — are another matter. The Sussex children weren’t featured on the family’s 2023 holiday card, and they’re photographed only from the back in one shot included on the just-released 2024 card, which features multiple images of their famous parents.
Given the level of interest in what little physical details we see of Archie and Lilibet — red hair and knee socks, mostly — it’s not hard to see why the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been more hesitant to share images of their children with the world. And they’re not alone. Last week, ABC News meteorologist Ginger Zee addressed a fan’s question about why she now uses emojis to cover her two sons’ faces when posting photos on social media.
“About a year and a half ago [my husband Ben Aaron] and I had a discussion about sharing photos and videos of our kids and realized it’s just not at all what we want to do,” Zee explained. “Artificial intelligence was the impetus,” she said — citing concerns that online images may be repurposed for AI — “but the reasons go well beyond that.”
She and Aaron “wish they never had” [started showing off their sons] in the first place, Zee told the fan. “It was never their choice and feels really exploitive these days.”
For parents who no longer — or never did — feel comfortable “sharenting,” aka sharing stories and footage of their children online, but still want to acknowledge their family life, using emojis to block faces, only showing their kids from certain angles or limiting kid content to a curated group of “close friends” might feel like a decent middle ground that offers some level of anonymity. But others are stepping back from posting about their kids entirely as they reexamine their relationship with social media.
“I think many parents are choosing not to share their children on social media for a variety of reasons, mainly centered around privacy, safety and potential long-term implications,” Sarah Adams of Mom Uncharted, which raises awareness about online safety and child exploitation on social media. “I also believe these reasons (and more, like the advancements in AI) reflect a growing awareness of the potential risks and long-term implications of sharing children’s lives online. All of this is prompting parents to adopt a more cautious approach to sharing online.”
Devorah Heitner, author of Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World, also sees an “increasing awareness of the risks of sharing” footage of their children online. These include concerns about AI (specifically, that a child’s photo might be altered in an indecent or nefarious way), facial recognition technology and child exploitation. “These are not necessarily common everyday occurrences,” Heitner says, “but I think because we read about them and hear about them, parents are rightly concerned.”