From the minute you find out that you're pregnant, you want to tell damn near everyone you know. You're excited, and you're happy and eager to share that joy with the people you love and, sometimes, your 427 friends on Facebook.
While announcing your big news on social networking sites is an easy way to get the word out (and subsequently revel in all the well wishes), many women don't just stop there. It starts with a "we're pregnant!" post and pretty soon, they're putting up daily status updates, filling all 427 friends in on their swollen feet, their orange juice cravings, the fact that they ate a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream in one sitting. First of all, snore. Second of all, not everyone -- including your old boss, your ex-boyfriend, and your camp friend -- wants to hear about it.
I know I'm probably pissing off many a pregnant woman by even suggesting that many people might not want to read about your developing baby bump. And here I am, blogging about my own pregnancy on The Stir (hi, yes, maybe I'm a hypocrite). But I'm not saying all pregnancy updates are annoying, especially when done sparingly. That story about how your baby girl was giving the finger in your latest ultrasound scan? Now that's funny. You found out it's going to be a boy -- hell yeah, we want to know! I can even get on board with parents who poll their Facebook friends for help with baby names. But as for the people that post ad nauseam about the daily minutiae of their pregnancies ("Baby Jones is really kicking today!"), I personally think it's too much.
Yes, if people don't want to read about your pregnancy, they can skip over your posts, or hide you in their newsfeed. But do you want to be that girl that friends "hide" on Facebook? It's the equivalent of blocking someone's phone number! I know people who have gone so far as to "unfriend" acquaintances who were jamming up their newsfeed with TMI on their wedding planning, their wonderfully schmoopie-woopie husbands, and excessive pregnancy or baby talk.
Put simply, you have to know your audience. Understand that a good number of your Facebook friends may not care so much about baby stuff, others may have experienced a pregnancy loss, and some are struggling to conceive. Many infertile couples have to log off of Facebook completely for awhile because they can't cope with all the pregnancy and baby news. I get that -- I think most women can at least empathize with that.
Of course, you can't worry about everyone else's feelings, especially when you're enjoying one of the happiest times in your life. And no one should fault you for wanting to share all the highs and lows of these amazing nine months. But before posting anything, pregnancy-related or not, I think it's worth it just to ask yourself: Does this need to be on Facebook?
What do you think? Do some of us overshare details of our pregnancy on Facebook?
Image via Hafdis H/Flickr
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Comments 116
can i just add that too many posts in general are little extreme! there's one girl that posts everything, she changed a diaper, picked out a dress, spilled water, gave baths...enough already i get it, you're a sahm appearantly with nothing else to do but post on fb continuously. ugh! i think try to stick with one post a day, maybe two. past that no one wants to read four pages of lyrics by your favorite rapper.
I think people overshare in general. Though I love the funny, witty, life updates, and love to know what is going on in my friends lives...I do not need a daily blow by blow. Enough already!!! :)
It is your right to post what you want...its is your page but what makes people think everyone really cares that much about every detail of their life. Narcissistic much?
I think people tend to overshare most everything on FB. People forget, if you wouldn't blurt it out in an open room full of people- then you shouldn't post it. However, you don't HAVE to be friends with anyone on FB- if someone annoys you, block their stuff!
Oversharing in anything, including pregnancy, is not a good thing in my opinion. I have a couple FB friends who just post way too much way too often and it is really annoying. Yes, they can post what they want. Yes, I can just skip over them. But is that really the purpose of FB? To post whatever you want despite how annoyed your friends are? If it is I must have missed something somewhere.
FTR, I only post a status update on FB about once every two or three weeks. I'm just not a major FB person. When I was pregnant I wasn't even on FB. I instead found an online forum specifically for pregnant women so that I could share my day-to-day of pregnancy with others who were sharing their day-to-day of pregnancy. It worked really well. Like someone else said... "know your audience".
If my "friends" on facebook don't like what I say, then they don't have to be my friends.