Hello There,
Wow I have not updated this page since 2016! Bad blog mama I know I know! So much has happened since my last blog post, I have completed my journalism degree at FAMU, moved back to my hometown of Jacksonville, FL (DUUUVAALLL), pursuing a masters degree and now I’m a mom to a beautiful baby boy. What better way to revive this blog than answering a question I’ve been getting a lot lately.
WHY DID YOU PUT EMOJIS OVER PHOTOS OF YOUR KID FACE ON SOCIAL MEDIA?
As parents you have the desire of posting stories, photos and videos of your kids online because you are proud to show the world your little human… after all that gorgeous little human you made being is too cute to not share right?
The decision of whether I wanted to post my child on social media came shortly after I discovered I was pregnant. If you have followed my Facebook or Instagram, you would know that I was diagnosed with Endometriosis at a young age and was told I would never be able to have children based on the severity of my disease. I’ve always prayed to be a mother and I promised God that I would always protect my child from harm and that includes social media. Because of this I did not post about my pregnancy until a few days after my son was born. People online can be a beast at times, I’ve had my share of rude comments from strangers and even those who I thought were acquaintances. Welp.. too bad others negatively compared me Beyoncé for controlling my kid’s online footprint. Let’s dive into the first reason I decided to delay posting my little one online.
The internet is FULL of creeps. Believe it or not there are people who spend hours searching through social media to steal photos of children. Shortly after having Kyler I watched a news video on protecting your child via social media, I learned that posting an innocent photo such as your baby in the tub with the hashtag #bathtime could potentially put your child in harm’s way for pedophiles online or in person if you use a location tag. If you would like to know more on this topic the article I mentioned before is linked here.
- It is easy to become consumed with likes, retweets and comments from social media postings. Furthermore, I did not want to worry about someone posting a crazy comment talking about my child or how many likes his photos received compared to my other photos. Whereas I can honestly admit having a certain amount of attention through Instagram has given me the big head a few times (talking about past tense y’all), I never want for Kyler to fall into the entrapment of seeking validation from others. Therefore, instead of worry about social media analytics concerning my son I chose to focus on bonding with him.
- Also, as a parent you are free to share as much or little as you please. However, as parents you are also responsible for protecting your child from anything that can be harmful. Once a photo is posted online it is hard to scrub the image existence on the web. You never know if someone screenshot a photo of your baby to post in their personal group chat or if your child’s classmates will use the photo as a means of bullying. To avoid these potential situations you could limit how much you share on certain platforms.
- Facebook and Instagram allows each user to set their pages and content to private. You can do so by going to settings.
- Create a private online album that can only be accessed through a link you have shared. I opened an online gallery so that my friends and family members could keep up with photos of my son. These are really easy to set up and also great for family members that are not on social media.
- I know this may sound old school but print photos and mail them to family members and friends. I still do this with my close friends and family members. We’ve became so used to digital photos which is why no one really prints anymore. If you are looking for options to print directly from your phone FREEPrints is a great app that lets users get 85 prints for FREE a month as long as you pay shipping & handling. If you use this link you will get 5 bonus free prints each month. ( Not a sponsored post).
While I do post more photos and videos of my son now I still remain cautious of the amount of information I share about him. As parents it is our number one priority to keep our children safe.
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Class & Sass Kay 