Social media can spark significant co-parenting conflicts after divorce or non-marital separation. One parent may happily post photographs of a child’s birthday, while the other believes children’s lives should remain private. Disagreements can become particularly contentious when posts reveal locations, criticize the other household or share private details of a child’s circumstances online.
Thankfully, proactively establishing child-centered boundaries around social media use can help prevent many of these problems.
Getting started on an agreement
Parents can begin by deciding what information is appropriate to share. Consider whether photographs, school names, sports teams, medical information and real-time locations should appear online. Posting a child’s school uniform or tagging a location, for example, may reveal more identifying information than either parent might be comfortable with.
Parents should also discuss whether permission is needed before posting certain photographs or videos. This concern can become increasingly important as children grow older. A teenager may have strong opinions about having embarrassing childhood stories, disciplinary problems or personal accomplishments shared with an audience they did not choose.
Additionally, divorce or separation itself should generally remain an adult matter. Social media is not an appropriate place to criticize a co-parent, discuss support disputes or provide updates about custody litigation. Even when children do not have accounts of their own, friends, classmates or relatives may see posts and repeat what they read.
The terms of a parenting plan may enforceably address social media when online activity is a recurring source of conflict. The guiding question when crafting such terms should be whether a post serves the child or primarily serves the parent. When questions about how to craft reasonable, mutually agreeable terms arise, a skilled legal team can provide clarity and guidance.