Grandsharenting: Motives and Privacy Impact of Grandparents’ Sharenting Practices

Grandparents often take up an active role in their grandchildren’s education. Older adults are also increasingly active online and disclose information about their grandchildren on social media. However, to date, research studying grandparents’ sharenting (i.e., grandsharenting) remains limited. This chapter complements earlier work on sharenting by switching focus to the generation of grandparents and their sharenting behaviour. Similarities and differences between grandsharenting and parental sharenting are discussed. First, we elaborate upon the grandsharenting concept and the changing role grandparents play in their family and their grandchild’s life. Second, we explore grandparents’ sharenting behaviours by examining the types of content they share about their grandchildren on social media and their motivations for doing so. Differences between grandsharenting and sharenting are discussed. Next, we reflect upon the impact of grandsharenting on the grandchild’s privacy. We discuss the cost-mitigating strategies grandparents adopt to protect grandchildren’s digital identity and overview how grandparents manage privacy turbulence within the family context, as grandparents need to consider their grandchild’s and parents’ expectations or demands related to their personal information. Finally, we go over implications and suggestions for future work.