GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Do you sharent? It’s that thing where you share pictures and information about your kids on social media. Like, a lot of pictures and information. Maybe you don’t think you do, but there’s a good chance your teenagers think you do. We sat down with a couple of families to discuss this new age of digital sharing and some facts that you maybe didn’t know. For instance, according to the New York Times, the average 5-year-old has 1,500 pictures of them online. That’s a lot of pictures.
HOW MUCH TIME DOES MOM SPEND ON THE PHONE?
"Is that even a question? That's a statement. She is always on her phone,” says Andrew Brundidge of his mom Sheletta.
"I'm sorry, I had to expose you,” he jokes.
"He is right girl. I am always on my phone. That's true. That's true,” says Sheletta.
“Like 60% of the day,” Cole Yang says of his mother Pang.
"Soon as we got the smart phone things changed,” Pang admits.
ARE YOU EVER EMBARRASSED BY WHAT SHE POSTS?
"There was this one thing she posted on YouTube and it was really embarrassing,” says Pria Yang.
“Sometimes there are pictures that she posts that are a little embarrassing,” says Andrew.
BUT DOES "MOM" THINK SHE OVER-SHARES?
“No, I don't. I'm mainly posting about what our family is doing the fun stuff we're engaged in, if there are any challenges, we post about that too,” says Sheletta, who by the way is a mother of four kids, three of whom are on the Autism spectrum.
"I mean I post it because it's things I just want to share with friends and family,” says Pang who is the mother of six kids from age 17 down to two years old.
DID YOU KNOW 90% OF KIDS HAVE AN ONLINE PRESENCE BY AGE 2?
"Wow. Wow, and that's true because we start posting video of the fetus. I saw an ultrasound on Facebook , a 3D ultrasound picture, it was so good I could tell the baby looked like her daddy,” says Sheletta.
“Ethan, our little baby, is two and he has his own page, but 90%, I did not know that,” says Pang.
84% OF RECRUITERS THINK THAT ONLINE REPUTATIONS WILL IMPACT FUTURE HIRING PROCEDURES
"Your boss is going to know your mama's crazy. That's the thing that I'm scared of,” laughs Sheletta. “You're going to get me fired,” says Andrew. “I’m going to get you fired before you get hired. I'm sorry boy. You better go into business for yourself,” she says.
"It completely concerns me. "I've never really thought about how much it would impact their career and their future, so it does concern me,” says Pang.
BY THE YEAR 2030 "SHARENTING" WILL BE TO BLAME FOR 2/3 OF ALL IDENTITY FRAUD CASES.
"That's actually really frightening, I didn't even think that," says Pang. "We just might have to shut down all our social media," she laughs.
WILL ANY OF THIS INFORMATION CHANGE YOUR POSTING HABITS?
"I might just be more thoughtful, more intentional now about what I post,” says Pang.
But Sheletta has a different view.
"For me the good is going to outweigh the bad. Helping people, educating them about kids with autism, showing them it can be done. What a good, strong, black family looks like. "If I got one mama who tells me because she saw my son, she got her child tested for autism… If I get one of that? It's worth whatever bad we're going to have to go through,” says Sheletta.