Facebook Moms: Platform to Discuss Parenting Techniques
Extra Credit Week 8: Facebook Moms
Gervaise says more and more mothers are using Facebook as a platform to boast about their lives, their kids, their parenting techniques. And that’s making it harder and harder for moms like her to log on without getting slapped in the face. Bragging about your kids is nothing new, but before Facebook, the Compare & Contrast game was mostly played at the playground or the preschool parking lot. Moms would stand around discreetly scrutinizing kids to see who was hitting milestones faster or slower than their own children. Mothers are heavy Facebook users. Edison’s 2013 research reveals that 7 out of 10 moms have a profile, and there are more than 1,000 mommy groups, public and private. These groups range in size from hundreds of members to tens of thousands, and they are discussing everything from potty training to gaming that private-school admissions test. An online media professional and mom of one from Falls Church, Va., is so tired of playing the game that she’s taken her ball and gone home. “I kind of avoid Facebook entirely”, she says, “Because I'm sick of everyone's presentation of perfection.” There is nothing in the Facebook rules that requires complete honesty and total disclosure, and it is human nature to portray the best version of one’s life. From carefully curating our vacation snaps to sharing perfectly posed first-day-of-school photos, all of us, not just moms, try to portray a problem-free, fun-filled, blissful existence. And that can be pretty annoying if you’ve just spent the morning watching your 4-year-old repaint your kitchen walls with oatmeal. Part of the problem is that this isn’t happening in real time, face to face. That means moms who might not mean to offend are missing the social cues that normally put a damper on excessive crowing. Social networks like Facebook haven't changed the way people respond to bragging; they’ve changed how much people brag. The ability to publicize so much has blurred the
Gervaise says more and more mothers are using Facebook as a platform to boast about their lives, their kids, their parenting techniques. And that’s making it harder and harder for moms like her to log on without getting slapped in the face. Bragging about your kids is nothing new, but before Facebook, the Compare & Contrast game was mostly played at the playground or the preschool parking lot. Moms would stand around discreetly scrutinizing kids to see who was hitting milestones faster or slower than their own children. Mothers are heavy Facebook users. Edison’s 2013 research reveals that 7 out of 10 moms have a profile, and there are more than 1,000 mommy groups, public and private. These groups range in size from hundreds of members to tens of thousands, and they are discussing everything from potty training to gaming that private-school admissions test. An online media professional and mom of one from Falls Church, Va., is so tired of playing the game that she’s taken her ball and gone home. “I kind of avoid Facebook entirely”, she says, “Because I'm sick of everyone's presentation of perfection.” There is nothing in the Facebook rules that requires complete honesty and total disclosure, and it is human nature to portray the best version of one’s life. From carefully curating our vacation snaps to sharing perfectly posed first-day-of-school photos, all of us, not just moms, try to portray a problem-free, fun-filled, blissful existence. And that can be pretty annoying if you’ve just spent the morning watching your 4-year-old repaint your kitchen walls with oatmeal. Part of the problem is that this isn’t happening in real time, face to face. That means moms who might not mean to offend are missing the social cues that normally put a damper on excessive crowing. Social networks like Facebook haven't changed the way people respond to bragging; they’ve changed how much people brag. The ability to publicize so much has blurred the