Infancy Online: An Introduction

Abstract

This article introduces a Special Issue on the topic of infancy online, addressing a range of issues, including representation, privacy, datafication, and children's rights. The 7 articles included map important arenas of emerging research which highlight a range of increasingly urgent questions around the way infants are situated online, the longer term ramifications of infant online presences, and the ways in which infants and young children participate as users of online media.

Share with care: negotiating children’s health and safety in sharenting practices

“…Anyway, the mothers of both groups show a sufficient knowledge of risks and online context limits and, within these limits, they look for tactics and strategies to get where they want by managing or sacrificing privacy in an aware way. Similar to what Leaver and Nansen (2017) suggest with their study, in our study we observe that sharenting is constructed in interactions with others, as differences between anticipated and received feedback shape posting behaviors.…”

“…Leaver and Nansen (2017) observe that sharenting seem to be dominated – on one hand – by the parents or relatives’ desire to share routinely children’s milestones and cuteness by mainly visual contents (Kumar and Schoenebeck, 2015), and, on the other hand, by commercial forms of sharenting in order to gather views and possibly build a “brand” (Abidin, 2017). Sharenting is thus often addressed with criticism for a lack of consideration toward the consequences for minors’ digital identity and safety.…”

“…However, even if studies on parents using the resources of the web to show parental pride, or simply to discuss and share parenting concerns and practices only started emerging a few years ago, they appear fragmented (Lupton et al, 2016). Leaver and Nansen (2017) observe that sharenting seem to be dominated -on one hand -by the parents or relatives' desire to share routinely children's milestones and cuteness by mainly visual contents (Kumar and Schoenebeck, 2015), and, on the other hand, by commercial forms of sharenting in order to gather views and possibly build a "brand" (Abidin, 2017). Sharenting is thus often addressed with criticism for a lack of consideration toward the consequences for minors' digital identity and safety.…”