I am not a perfect mom, or perfect really in any sense of the word. In fact, I would say I am far from it. We hit the drive-thru far too often. We’ve watched one too many episodes of Mickey in a row. My two and a half year old son would rather listen to the latest from Florida Georgia Line than Kidsbop. As for a set bedtime, it’s more of a fluid thing depending on the day. There is nothing perfect about us.
Yet, I’ve heard it before, more than once: “Wow, seems like you guys have the perfect life.” or “You guys seem like the perfect family.” I couldn’t imagine why someone would think this, and then it hit me: it had to be social media and what I was sharing, but more importantly, what I wasn’t sharing.
I love the ability to share our life on social media. Being able to share updates with our family and friends with the push of a button is simply amazing. Social media has made it so even our brother as far away as Afghanistan can keep up-to-date on all the happenings in our family, and to see how our little man is growing like a weed!
I share things often via Facebook, and am now finally getting in on that Instagram wagon. I share a lot of family photos, community updates and quotes (who doesn’t love a good #MotivationalMonday!). I have a decent following made up of all people I know “IRL” or in real life.
Let me clear the air to say, it has nothing to do with an presenting a fake image, or putting on a front. I am not spending hours editing photos, taking the perfect angles, or setting up photo shoots. I don’t have a clue about the science of when to post for more engagement or likes. I don’t pre-plan what type of content I want to share. I am just a run of the mill, pretty basic, social media user with one small difference…I try to only share positive and happy things.
It’s not our life is all sunshine and unicorns, I am just not interested in oversharing. We all have bad days, times we are annoyed, and strong opinions on hot topics. In my eyes, social media is not the place to unload and air your dirty laundry. Putting everything or everyone on blast is not the way to solve anything. I have those tough days and strong opinions just like everyone else, but I choose to deal with them offline.
The other big concern is around protecting my son, and knowing that one day, he will also have social media. I am sure that by the time he is old enough to have social media (which is when he is 16, that’s a topic for another day!), it will be different than it is today. Regardless of the future of social media, once something is online, it’s there is some way forever. Would my son really want an embarrassing photo of his butt in a bathtub or a bathroom accident to be viewed by future employers? My guess is no.
As a mom, I think it’s important to keep your children in mind when sharing on social media. What will be embarrassing? What will they not want the whole world to see or know? And beyond that, think about their safety. Do you want everyone knowing your child’s exact schedule and what school or daycare they attend?
What are your thoughts on social media sharing? Is there such thing as oversharing? What are your boundaries for sharing online?
As a recruiter – this is an interesting topic to me. I post on the positives too. But then I hear information on the rising generation filtering a lot of these ‘promotional’ messages and being drawn to more behind the scenes moments.
From a relational level, people can relate to pain just as much (if not more) as passion.
So for social media, I think it brings it back to the reason the poster posts. If it were to connect with more people (gain more followers), I think there would be a place for sharing some of the pain with the passion. Although bath tub shots can probably be excluded from both 🙂