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Zoe Foster Blake Criticised For ‘Sharenting’

How much is too much?

They’re the Aussie couple you can’t help but love, they’re good looking, they’re hilarious, and seem so down to earth that you could totally be best friends with them. And then there’s their little boy, Sonny. He’s positively adorable, and like many proud parents they love to share that adorableness with the world.

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Only thing is, unlike most of us Hamish Blake and Zoe Foster Blake have over 1.1 million followers between them.

Over the weekend a piece that appeared in the Daily Telegraph accused the celebrity couple of “sharenting”, which the Collins English Dictionary defines as, “the habitual use of social media to share news and images of one’s children.”

Writer Angela Mollard expressed concern over the effect such exposure has on children, something which Zoe also recently addressed in an interview with Good Weekend where she was questioned over how much she shares of her two-year-old son.

“I spend my life with this child; it would be weirder for me never to post a photo of him. And we are as sure as shit not exploiting him,” she said.

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That doesn’t mean she approves of the way some media reports on her son, “I think it’s gross,” says the star. 

Mollard worries that we don’t yet know what sort of impact all this “sharenting” will have on children in the future.

“We don’t know if pictures of gorgeous blue-eyed boys like Sonny, happily showering with his dad, and innocently posted to the internet, are being shared by paedophiles,” says Mollard.

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“We also don’t know if this first generation of social media kids are going to grow up and resent the invasion of their privacy. In years to come Sonny may be really cross that his parents showed off his tummy rolls and posted videos of his mispronounced words.”

A recent case in Austria saw a teen sue her parents of embarrassing childhood photos of her on Facebook, claiming the photos had made her life a living hell. 

Unless you’ve completely managed to avoid social media altogether (well done you), then this is a problem we’re all faced with. There’s more and more alarming stories emerging daily about people stealing photos from social media for identify theft, stalking, pedophilia and so on.

So how much is too much on social media?

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Whether you just have your own selfies to think about, or if you’re a parent wondering if it’s ok to post photos of your child on social media, this is one of the big problems of our generation.

Visit staysmartonline.gov.au and esafety.gov.au for more information and tips on how to use social media safely. 

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