Sharenting: Pride, affect and the day‐to‐day politics of digital mothering

Lazard, Lisa; Capdevila, Rose; Dann, Charlotte; Locke, Abigail; Roper, Sandra

Abstract

The coming together of parenting and routine posting on social networking sites has become a visible and recognisable theme, and the term “sharenting” has found a place in everyday talk to describe some forms of parental digital sharing practices. However, while social media has undoubtedly provided a space for parents to share experiences and receive support around parenting, sharenting remains a contestable issue. Thus, one reading of sharenting would be as a display of good parenting as mothers “show off” their children as a marker of success. However, the term also can be used pejoratively to describe parental oversharing of child-focused images and content. In this paper, we explore the practice of sharenting in terms of pride, affect and the politics of digital mothering in a neoliberal context to conclude that sharenting can be best understood as a complex affective and intersectional accomplishment that produces motherhood and family as communicative activities within digital social practices.

Citation

Lazard, L., Capdevila, R., Dann, C., Locke, A., & Roper, S. (2019). Sharenting: Pride, affect and the day‐to‐day politics of digital mothering. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 13(4), Article ARTN e12443. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12443

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Mar 6, 2019
• Publication Date: 2019-04
• Deposit Date: Jun 1, 2023
• Journal: Social and Personality Psychology Compass
• Electronic ISSN: 1751-9004
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 4
• Article Number: ARTN e12443
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12443
• Keywords: Social Psychology