General Article The perils of ‘sharenting’: The parents who share too much

Topic Selected: Privacy Book Volume: 383

By the age of five, many children will have had 1,500 photos of them shared online. But what happens when they grow up?

By Rosie Hopegood

David Devore Jr is just like any other 18-year-old. On Instagram, he posts pictures with his prom date and of his college acceptance letter. On Twitter, he tweets about his favourite football team and shares clips from TikTok stars. But there is one thing that sets him apart from other kids his age: On YouTube, there is a video of him, aged seven, which has amassed almost 140 million views.

In 2009, David Jr, who lives in Florida, became one of the world’s first viral video stars when his dad, David Sr, uploaded a YouTube video of him, dazed and delirious, after a routine tooth extraction with the unassuming title: David After Dentist.

“I just wanted to be able to share it with friends and family because it made us laugh – David Jr included,” says David Sr. “I didn’t think anyone else would click on it.”

But, within days, it had been watched more ...

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