A Mom's Defense of Facebook Oversharing

Some may call it oversharing, but Kathy Zucker finds no issue with documenting her kids’ lives on social media. In fact, she sees it as a gift.

“Of all the thousands of pictures my parents took of me as a child, I have exactly ten,” Zucker, the founder of MetroMoms.net, writes in an opinion piece for Quartz. “Do I wish I had those pictures, along with the locations and details that made those memories special? You bet I do. And that is the gift I am giving my kids — an online visual archive they can refer back to whenever they want to recall a special event.”

The mom of three refers to her Facebook feed as a “sports reel” of her children’s lives, also known as the “Zucker Family Show.” One thing’s for sure: she’s proud of her kids, and like many parents, she’s more than willing to share photos and tidbits with anyone who might be interested.

“My son was student of the month? Post a pic of him with the certificate,” she says.

She also keeps her social media accounts totally public so that family, friends, even strangers can follow along.

From the very start of the social media era, parents have been criticized for sharing (or oversharing) their kids’ info. Zucker bluntly addresses the potential dangers: “Do I have safety concerns? Of course I do. The internet is a dangerous place, full of people who could misuse the images I share with the world. But you know what? […] If someone really and truly wants to harm your family, they wouldn’t need the internet to do it.” It’s a pretty grim statement — but the self-proclaimed social media professional is optimistic.

“The best gift I can give to my children is to gradually teach them how to deal with the online world,” she explains, adding that none of her kids have independent accounts yet. Millions of new parents have the same idea, sharing photos of their children long before the kids themselves join social media.  And it’s only getting easier: Facebook just unveiled a " Scrapbook" feature that streamlines all baby photos into one space, chronologically.

The issue continues to be a hot topic, and Zucker (along with other parents around the world) will likely continue to face questions about her children’s safety and privacy. But ultimately? “Having a world full of people who love my kids,” she writes, “cannot possibly be a bad thing.”