--- title: Kids to Parents: Stop Sharing Pictures of Us on Social Media description: At least ask first canonical: https://time.com/4253207/parents-social-media/ author: IDEAS Desk article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-10T19:11:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:45:47.312Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Kids to Parents: Stop Sharing Pictures of Us on Social Media og:description: At least ask first og:url: https://time.com/4253207/parents-social-media/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e3b225cd4967f43/69888a6acf40a87cc0c42585/selfie.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: selfie.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kids to Parents: Stop Sharing Pictures of Us on Social Media twitter:description: At least ask first twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e3b225cd4967f43/69888a6acf40a87cc0c42585/selfie.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kids to Parents: Stop Sharing Pictures of Us on Social Media ## Video: Melinda Gates: How My Children Spend Their Allowance [Watch (HLS stream): Melinda Gates: How My Children Spend Their Allowance](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/r8wuO4tt.m3u8) (0:48)  _Published 2014-11-21. Melinda Gates talks about how she raises her kids to share her philanthropic values_ by [IDEAS Desk](https://time.com/author/ideas-desk/) ## IDEAS Desk Mar 10, 2016 7:11 PM UTC  Mother and son taking selfie in kitchen Mother and son taking selfie in kitchenGetty Images by [IDEAS Desk](https://time.com/author/ideas-desk/) ## IDEAS Desk Mar 10, 2016 7:11 PM UTC Many parents set rules for their children’s activity online: limits on screen time, restrictions on sites, cautions about privacy. According to a [recent survey](http://media.wix.com/ugd/a0f093%5F3ca344c37a2a4271a32a8670eeec5abf.pdf), some children would like to create some rules for their parents, too. The most surprising request? Stop sharing pictures of them on social media. Or, at least ask first. As the New York _Times_ [reports](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/dont-post-about-me-on-social-media-children-say/), the survey of 249 parent-child pairs across 40 states by researchers at the University of Washington and University of Michigan found that children are twice as likely to ask adults to not “over share” by posting information about them online without their permission. “Child participants reported that they find this content embarrassing and feel frustrated that parents publicly contribute to their online presence without permission,” the report says. **Read more:** [Help! My Parents Are Millennials](http://time.com/help-my-parents-are-millennials-cover-story/) KJ Dell’Antonia [points out](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/dont-post-about-me-on-social-media-children-say/?partner=rss&emc=rss) in the _Times_ that the first babies who had their photos posted to Facebook, which started in 2004, are approaching their teens. “As this study, although small, suggests, it’s increasingly clear that our children will grow into teenagers and adults who want to control their digital identities.” **Read more:** [Jemima Kirk: Total Parenting Control Is Futile](http://time.com/4073237/jemima-kirke-parenting-control-is-futile/) The survey also found that some children would like their parents to put down their phones and be more present in social settings, give them more autonomy, not text and drive, and not be hypocrites about the rules they set. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4253207/parents-social-media/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4253207/parents-social-media/"},"headline":"Kids to Parents: Stop Sharing Pictures of Us on Social Media","datePublished":"2016-03-10T19:11:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:45:47.312Z","description":"At least ask first","url":"https://time.com/4253207/parents-social-media/","keywords":["Parenting","Tech"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e3b225cd4967f43/69888a6acf40a87cc0c42585/selfie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"IDEAS Desk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ideas-desk/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e3b225cd4967f43/69888a6acf40a87cc0c42585/selfie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"selfie.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/parenting/","name":"Parenting"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4253207/parents-social-media/","name":"Kids to Parents: Stop Sharing Pictures of Us on Social Media"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Melinda Gates: How My Children Spend Their Allowance","description":"Melinda Gates talks about how she raises her kids to share her philanthropic values","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/r8wuO4tt/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-11-21T16:52:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/r8wuO4tt.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4253207/parents-social-media/","duration":"PT48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4253207/parents-social-media/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```