The most intimate details of childhood are now being archived on timelines before a child can pronounce their own name. From delivery room photographs to school report sheets, from bath time laughter to moments of discipline, parents are constructing permanent digital biographies for minors who have neither the cognitive maturity nor the legal standing to consent. This practice, now globally recognised as sharenting, has become one of the most urgent yet under interrogated child protection issues of the digital century.
UNICEF warns that children’s rights do not evaporate online. In its advisory on protecting children’s privacy in the digital space, UNICEF urges parents to pause before posting, to protect their child’s privacy online, to respect their views, and to teach valuable lessons about consent. The message is simple yet profound. A child is not content. A child is not engagement currency. A child is a rights holder.
In Nigeria, where communal culture prizes public celebration of family milestones, sharenting often wears the garment of love and pride. A newborn is introduced to the world within minutes. Academic achievements are displayed with full names and school insignia. Birthday shoots reveal home addresses and routine locations. Yet beneath the cultural enthusiasm lies a silent vulnerability. The digital terrain is not neutral. It is algorithmic, extractive, and permanent.
Parents may assume that a harmless post is a private family memory. In reality, it is data. Data that can be scraped, profiled, manipulated, and weaponised. Images can be downloaded. Metadata can reveal location patterns. Innocent photographs can be repurposed in disturbing ways. The internet does not forget. What feels ephemeral in the moment becomes indelible digital residue.
The core ethical tension is consent. A toddler cannot authorise global distribution of their likeness. A ten year old may not comprehend the long term implications of viral exposure. Yet their digital footprint is expanding daily. By adolescence, many young people inherit an online archive they did not curate but must now live with. Universities, employers, political actors, and malicious agents increasingly rely on digital histories. Childhood posts can resurface with reputational consequences years later.
UNICEF emphasises that respecting children online means involving them in decisions that affect their digital identity. This principle aligns with the broader framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which affirms the right to privacy and the right to participation. In plain terms, children deserve a say in how their stories are told and who gets to see them.
Nigeria’s regulatory environment remains nascent in addressing sharenting directly. While data protection frameworks exist, enforcement is uneven and public awareness remains limited. The Nigerian Data Protection Act provides a legal scaffold for safeguarding personal information, yet few parents conceptualise their child’s photograph as sensitive personal data. The absence of widespread digital literacy exacerbates the risk.
Beyond legal architecture lies moral responsibility. Parenting in the age of surveillance capitalism demands higher vigilance. Social media platforms are engineered for amplification. The dopamine of likes and affirmations can subtly distort judgment. A post meant to celebrate a child can morph into performative exhibition. The line between documentation and exploitation becomes dangerously thin.
There is also the question of dignity. Some posts capture children in moments of vulnerability: tantrums, medical procedures, disciplinary scenes, or humiliating mishaps. What is comedic to adults may be traumatic to the child when peers discover it years later. Cyberbullying thrives on archived embarrassment. Digital cruelty requires only one screenshot.
Sharenting also intersects with security concerns in the Nigerian context. Kidnapping, identity theft, and online grooming are not abstract threats. Publicly sharing a child’s school uniform, daily routes, extracurricular schedules, or full identity details can create predictive patterns. In a country where security challenges persist, digital discretion is not paranoia; it is prudence.
The solution is not absolute silence online. It is disciplined intentionality. Parents must adopt a rights based lens. Before posting, ask: Is this necessary? Does it protect my child’s dignity? Could this expose them to harm? Would I be comfortable if this resurfaced in twenty years? Have I considered my child’s opinion?
UNICEF advises practical safeguards. Limit audience visibility. Disable geolocation tags. Avoid sharing identifying information such as full names, school badges, or home addresses. Seek your child’s consent where age appropriate. Model respect for digital boundaries so that children internalise the ethics of consent.
Digital literacy must become a household curriculum. Children should understand how the internet works, how images circulate, and how data persists. When parents demonstrate restraint, they teach that privacy is valuable. When they seek permission, they teach that autonomy matters. These are not abstract lessons. They shape a child’s understanding of self worth and agency.
The broader society must also engage. Schools should integrate digital citizenship education. Faith communities and civic institutions should address online ethics from their platforms. Policymakers should refine child specific data protections and hold technology companies accountable for child centred design. Platforms must strengthen safeguards against image scraping and exploitation.
Sharenting forces a confrontation with modern parenting identity. Are children extensions of adult social branding, or are they individuals with independent rights? The answer carries generational implications. The digital archive being built today will define how this generation negotiates privacy, trust, and autonomy tomorrow.
In Nigeria’s vibrant social culture, celebration will not cease. Nor should it. But celebration must not eclipse protection. Love must not override consent. Pride must not compromise privacy.
A child’s first cry should not become their first data point in an uncontrolled marketplace of information. The photographs we upload today can echo across decades. Responsible parenting in the digital age requires foresight, restraint, and a disciplined respect for the invisible consequences of visibility.
Before you post, remember that you are not merely sharing a moment. You are constructing a digital legacy on behalf of someone who has no immediate voice in the matter. That reality demands caution of the highest order.
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
08152094428 (SMS Only)
