Sharenting – are you aware of this phenomenon and its implications for children?

More than ten years ago, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, said: “Getting people to a point where they are more open is a big challenge.” Today, Facebook’s popularity and the willingness of its users to share personal information have exceeded even Zuckerberg’s boldest expectations. Facebook is one of many platforms for the public disclosure of information, communication, and social exchange, but there is little doubt that it was among the first to popularise the idea of being constantly online.

As Sherry Turkle has observed, many people live by the motto “I share, therefore I am.” In this way, they use technology to define themselves by sharing their thoughts and feelings, or simply the details of their everyday lives.

Digital technologies have also become an important part of children’s everyday lives, regardless of their cultural or geographical context. This is often a consequence of parents’ practices of routinely sharing information about their children online. Moreover, children are frequently unaware that they have become social media celebrities because of their parents’ online activities. This parental practice, known as sharenting, is becoming an increasingly widespread phenomenon around the world.

Sharenting can lead to many negative consequences, exposing children to the risk of:

• loss of privacy – children have no control over what information about them is shared online, and this digital footprint may be difficult to manage later in life;
• identity theft – personal information may be used for identity theft, affecting children’s safety;
• exploitation – images and information may be used for commercial purposes;
• cyberbullying and harassment.

GUARDIAN – “Growing Online: How to Protect Our Children in the Digital World?”

GUARDIAN is an international research project funded through the Horizon Europe programme (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Staff Exchanges). The project investigates sharenting, understood as the practice of parents and caregivers sharing content featuring children on social media, and examines its implications for children’s privacy, safety, and rights in the digital environment.

The main goal of GUARDIAN is to investigate the extent and dimensions of sharenting in Europe and East Africa as well to understand parents’ motives for sharenting and children attitudes for being shared.

The consortium brings together the following institutions: University of Silesia in Katowice (consortium coordinator), University of Szczecin, Palacký University Olomouc, Pwani University in Kenya, and the Polish University Abroad (PUNO) in London.

Project objectives

1. Providing a robust assessment of the phenomenon of sharenting and of the policies adopted by the participating countries concerning the protection of children’s rights in the digital environment.
2. Understanding children’s perspectives on sharenting and identifying their expectations regarding participation in online communities.
3. Conducting a critical comparative analysis that integrates national and international research, enabling broader conclusions to be drawn about the phenomenon of sharenting, identifying international trends in sharenting, and ultimately facilitating the sharing of key findings and best practices.
4. Providing guidance and recommendations on the measures required to respect, protect, and fulfil children’s rights in the context of the use of digital media.
5. Helping parents navigate the online world responsibly by prioritising children’s well-being, sharing information thoughtfully, avoiding the disclosure of sensitive details, and considering how online content may affect their children’s future.
6. Promoting children’s rights and raising awareness among the participating countries of the opportunities, risks, and challenges faced by children in the digital environment.

PUNO’s Role and Team

PUNO leads Work Package 4 (descriptive research involving parents in four countries) and is responsible for the UK component of the study. The PUNO team is led by Dr Agnieszka Szajner (Principal Investigator) and includes Leszek Kulaszewicz, MA, Dr Dorota Hrycak-Krzyżanowska, and Wojciech Klas, MA.

Two Years of the Project at a Glance

The year 2025 marked the first year of PUNO’s participation in the GUARDIAN project. The PUNO team took part in the first staff exchange visits, contributed to the development of research instruments, and organised the 1st International Symposium on Sharenting in London.

The following months of 2026 were the most intensive period for the PUNO team since the start of the project. The team developed research instruments, completed two research secondments, organised the 2nd International Symposium on Sharenting in London, and hosted researchers from Poland, the Czech Republic, and Kenya.

• 20 February 2025 marked the official launch of the project with the kick-off meeting. Just a few weeks later, PUNO welcomed its first researchers as part of the staff exchange programme.
• July 2025 – preparation of research instruments and the first fieldwork activities (see details below).
• 21 August 2025 – the 1st International GUARDIAN Symposium and Gala in London.
• 16 June 2026 – the University of Silesia in Katowice, the consortium coordinator, hosted the project’s mid-term meeting with the participation of the European Commission Project Officer. The partners reviewed the first half of the project’s implementation and agreed on the plan for field research activities for the following months.
• 11 August 2026 – the 2nd International GUARDIAN Symposium in London.
• 9-15 October 2026 – GUARDIAN Week and the exhibition “Who Is Watching? Childhood Online”.

Research Instruments

PUNO led the development of the qualitative research instruments (the Sharenting Scale, interviews, and focus groups), while the partners from Olomouc and Szczecin were responsible for the quantitative instruments and the pilot survey. On 14 and 18 July 2025, online workshops were held for the entire consortium, including a workshop delivered by Leszek Kulaszewicz, MA, on the theoretical framework of the project. At the end of July, the recruitment of parents and children began, together with the first fieldwork activities.

The most significant outcome of the first year was the development of a set of research instruments (Research Toolkit, Deliverable D4.1). It includes:

• the Sharenting Scale – a questionnaire for parents based on Icek Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour, extended to include personal moral norms;
• interview guides for children aged 5-8 (using drawing-based activities) and 9-14;
• focus group discussion guides on peer norms and perceptions of online safety;
• parental and caregiver consent forms.

In 2026, the team commenced research in the partner countries using these instruments.

Fouding

Funded by the European Union (Horizon Europe, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, GUARDIAN project, Grant Agreement No. 101182798). The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. The participation of the Polish University Abroad (PUNO) is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the UK Government’s Horizon Europe Guarantee Scheme (Grant No. EP/X038572/1).

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