Nearly three-quarters of parents said they still felt vulnerable to hackers despite adjusting their social media privacy settings. — Photo courtesy of Kaspersky

HCM CITY — Parents who frequently share photos and information about their children on social media may be less motivated to adopt online safety measures, according to a new study by Kaspersky and the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT).

The research, titled Small Shares, Big Risks: How Parents Assess Threats and Cope with Sharing of Children’s Data, examined the relationship between “sharenting” – a combination of the words “sharing” and “parenting” – and parents’ attitudes towards digital privacy.

Sharenting refers to the practice of regularly posting photos, videos and personal details about children on social media platforms.

Based on responses from parents across Egypt, Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Việt Nam, the study found a clear pattern: the more frequently parents shared content about their children online, the less motivated they were to follow digital safety practices.

“Our analysis combined regression, correlation and comparison of means to examine the relationship between parents’ sharing behaviours and their attitudes towards digital safety. Across these methods, we observed a consistent pattern showing that as the frequency of sharenting increases, motivation to adopt protective measures declines. This suggests a behavioural gap, where greater online exposure of children is not matched by stronger efforts to safeguard their data and privacy,” said Associate Professor Jiow Hee Jhee, Deputy Director of the Teaching and Learning Academy at SIT.

The study also highlighted a persistent tension between convenience and cybersecurity.

While most parents recognise the importance of protecting their family’s digital footprint, many view privacy measures as inconvenient or time-consuming. Eighty-seven per cent of respondents agreed that restricting social media visibility to family and close friends helps reduce privacy risks, yet nearly half found the process time-consuming.

Similarly, 80 per cent believed removing sharing permissions protects privacy, but 40 per cent said it requires effort. In addition, more than 83 per cent believed that turning off metadata and geotagging helps protect privacy, although 36 per cent considered the process too time-consuming.

According to Kaspersky, this reflects a broader behavioural challenge in digital security.

“Parents acknowledge that digital security is important, but the effort required to implement protective measures creates constant friction. Since many parents believe they are capable of practising safe sharenting despite the time and effort involved, cybersecurity education initiatives should demonstrate how simple these safety measures can be in order to reduce perceived barriers,” said Trishia Octaviano, Senior Manager for Cybersecurity Education, Asia Pacific, at Kaspersky.

Despite these concerns, the research found that parents remain largely confident in their ability to manage privacy risks. More than four in five respondents believed they were capable of keeping identifiable information off their posts and accounts, avoiding the sharing of embarrassing photos of their children, and limiting the visibility of posts to family and close friends through privacy settings.

However, nearly three-quarters of parents (72 per cent) said they still felt vulnerable to hackers despite adjusting their social media privacy settings.

Experts recommend that parents delete unused accounts, set profiles to private if they do not intend to make them publicly accessible, and regularly review privacy settings on social media platforms. They should also carefully consider the potential risks before sharing personal or family information online.

In addition, users are advised to avoid disclosing geolocation data in social media posts and to remove metadata from photo files where possible to reduce the risk of personal information being exploited. — VNS