For many parents, having a child takes over their lives. It's a joyous occasion and we just can't get enough of our new bundles of joy. Our family are excited, our close friends are happy for us, and we spend a lot of time having the same conversations over and over with different people about how we're enjoying it, what the challenges are and so forth. It's easy to get lost in this little bubble of parenthood where you can forget that the most important thing in your life isn't necessarily going to register as all that important with everyone you know. Some people just aren't going to want to hear about your kids.
This has been amplified in recent years by the rise of digital technology and online sharing networks. Digital cameras and picture-capable mobile phones have made it easier than ever before to capture those golden moments with the little ones. (Well, maybe not phone cameras - the ones on my phones have been so slow to take the picture after the button is pressed that the munchkin has usually wandered off to do something else, and all I get is a blurry picture of her back.)
As for sharing, the options for doing this online are mind-boggling. I can post updates, photos and videos to Facebook to share with family and friends, or do the same on Twitter if I was inclined to share the same with a bunch of random strangers. (Tempted as I've been to show off my pride and joy, I don't do this, for reasons of privacy and safety.) I could also upload videos of her to YouTube, create a Tumblr for pictures of her or upload to FlickR, and blog about her development on WordPress. All of this is generally as easy as signing up and tweaking a few settings too - no need to set up a website with all that entails. I can even do almost all of this from my mobile too, which means doing it in real time, though for the record I don't tend to do much more than post photos and the occasional video to Facebook.
So with all these options available and almost no effort required to take advantage of them, the amount of sharing going on is reaching epic levels. This is fantastic for family and close friends who live overseas or even just in other cities to be able to share in the happiness, but for some it's more like a curse. If you're at a certain time in your life, then there's a fair chance that the spate of baby or child photos invading your networks is approaching epidemic proportions.
I've seen people on networks like Twitter referring to having unfriended or blocked people on Facebook for posting too much about their kids. Severing online ties with someone like that can be a dramatic step, so if you don't want to go that far, what can be done?
Perhaps the solution lies with this little Facebook app that my wife let me know about (for blogging purposes only, I assure you!). According to perezitos.com, an offshoot of celebrity Perez Hilton's site, you can now use unbaby.me to "detect baby pictures on one's Facebook and replaced those angelic faces with any picture one would rather see instead." I haven't been game to install it myself, so I can't comment on exactly what these preferred pictures are, exactly, but the article does mentions a dramatic gopher, so I assume the app takes a humorous approach.
So there you have it, one way to minimise the impact of all those baby photos. Do you need an app like this to filter your feed? Or maybe you're on the offending end of posting too much?
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I get tired of one online friend (although I suppose it is actually more likely to be his wife doing it) who gets tagged constantly as being in photos that are only photos of his kids. Hint: he has a lot of facial hair, so if it's a photo of a baby, chances are that it probably isn't him.
Though I'd have to say that the vast majority of my digital buddies are very well behaved with kid photos, and they're all probably totally sick of my cat and car photos. We are all guilty of having our own hobbies, and spending way too much time taking photos related to the hobby or interest. It is the way of the bookfacepageweb.
I use www.unbaby.me to replace pics of babies with kitties when the baby photos get to be a bit much. Most of the time photos of people's babies and kids, while the best thing in the world to their own parents, are pretty boring to everyone else.
@Leon #2 you are shocking with cat photos :oP
I am careful not to post to much of my daughter on facebook as i have people on there that i dont really want to share those things with. I do post the odd photo and she has her own album that i can make visable to select friends.
I do have one of my partners friends on facebook and all her updates pic and videos are of her son, He is apparently so gifted and smart for a toddler that the whole world has to know about it every 5 minutes *snore* Truth be told he is a little brat. I have seriously considered unfriending her because of her posts. I have lots of friends with kids and I like to see the photos most of the time cause they are in moderation but not with this girl.
I post pics of my kid on Facebook all the time. Mainly because our close rellies are overseas, but also because I have no life outside my kid anymore! Sad but true. I might have to show that app to those poor friends feeling bombarded (or they can just unfriend me, I don't care.) I "hide" those friends who post about toilet antics though. My rule is to only status update about stuff other people without kids may find funny, and to only post one relevent pic of the kid at a time, not 36 photo's taken in quick succession at the same event of the kid doing the same old thing.
I post a lot of photos and have unashamedly told my facebook "friends" that i will continue to do so. Uploading straight to FB is far more convenient than emailing pics to all the Aunts and Uncles and Granparents in NZ who do want to see my bundle of joy. I make no apology for it. However I try not to over share. I use STFU parents as my guide for that and have on occasion found myself writing a post and then deleting it once I realize it's fodder for STFU Parents. Check out this site, it's hilarious and very very scary http://www.stfuparentsblog.com/
Do I have friends who share WAY too much. Most definitely. But to be honest I prefer the over sharing parents to some of my binge drinking single friends or people who rave on about religion and politics constantly (I live in America).
We have friends who are Terrible for doing this. Every day there is another photo of their child up on FB. What do they do? Follow her around with a camera all day every day? My hubby and I loved the first few (we were so happy and excited for them) but a year on (and about a million photos later) we are over it.
Its not the toddler pics that bother me. Its the 'for husband and wife eyes only' pics that are scarey : caesarian pics, big boob first feed pics, mummy looking (understandably) completely shattered post birth pics. They are not for sharing via FB! I haven't unfriended, but I've certainly unsubscribed from posts.
Just don't have a facebook account. Problem solved.
"Tempted as I've been to show off my pride and joy, I don't do this, for reasons of privacy and safety" so you won't have a twitter account, but you have a blog, complete with picture of your daughter. Hypocrite much? I think the age of the internet has allowed parents to show off their little bundles of joys to friends and family world wide, which is great. My suggestion is if you want to do that, then set up a blog (giving access only to those who you want to see it) and post tales and photos galore. that way, people have to make the conscious decision to view it.
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I accept that people find their kids interesting, and I've never unfriended anyone for posting too much about their kids, but I did block the updates of one friend after she started posting regularly and in graphic detail about her toddler's potty-training exploits. Actually funny stories, good, toileting stories, save it for mum's group. Please.