UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Families have found ways to document special events and personal milestones for centuries; but over time, technology has changed the way it is shared and communicated.
“In this age of social media, it's not uncommon for people to share aspects of their lives not just with friends and family, but with the public,” said Bill Hallman, lecturer in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications and WPSU "Conversations Live" host. “What are the consequences of this, especially when sharing sensitive information?”
In the next episode of WPSU Conversations Live, Hallman, along with Priya Kumar, College of Information Sciences, and Alexa Fox, associate professor of marketing at The University of Akron, will examine “sharenting” and the possible vulnerabilities and consequences of parents sharing too much of their children’s lives online.
Kumar, who has done extensive research on the topic, said parents loved taking and sharing photos of their children long before smartphones were around — but access to the digital world has changed the way they are shared.
“Photos that used to lie in shoeboxes or computer folders now sit on tech company servers. Social media is an important infrastructure through which we maintain our relationships with friends and family. Yet we have little control over what happens to the information we post online,” Kumar said. “How do parents navigate this tension? That question has guided my research for the past decade, and my findings suggest that we, as society, need to rethink some of our assumptions related to privacy as well as parenting.”
Kumar, Hallman and Fox will share more about the research and take audience questions during "Conversations Live" at 8 p.m. March 23 on WPSU.
Join the conversation by calling 1-800-543-8242 during the show, or email connect@wpsu.org.
WPSU serves 24 counties in central Pennsylvania and reaches 515,000 households, and WPSU-FM is accessible to more than 450,000 listeners in 13 counties. The public media station also includes WPSU Digital Studios, which offers original web series that explore science, arts and culture. WPSU is a service of Penn State Outreach.
Visit the WPSU website to learn more about central Pennsylvania’s public media station.