When Kids Realize Their Whole Life Is Already Online | The Atlantic

Later in the article: "And in France, strict privacy laws mean kids can sue their own parents for publishing intimate or private details of their lives without consent. In the United States, however, teens and tweens aren’t offered such protections, and many simply walk on eggshells. “You definitely just have to live cautiously,” Ellen said."

"But it’s not just overzealous mommy bloggers who construct a child’s online identity; plenty of average parents do the same. There’s even a portmanteau for it: sharenting. Almost a quarter of children begin their digital lives when parents upload their prenatal sonogram scans to the internet, according to a study conducted by the internet-security firm AVG. The study also found that 92 percent of toddlers under the age of 2 already have their own unique digital identity. “Parents now shape their children’s digital identity long before these young people open their first email. The disclosures parents make online are sure to follow their children into adulthood,” declares a report by the University of Florida Levin College of Law. “These parents act as both gatekeepers of their children’s personal information and as narrators of their children’s personal stories.”

Preschools and elementary schools often keep blogs or upload photos of kids to Instagram accounts and Facebook pages so that working parents can feel like a part of their kids’ day. Sports scores are recorded online, as are notable moments from after-school clubs."

When Kids Realize Their Whole Life Is Already Online | The Atlantic