Social Media is the Ultimate Love/Hate Relationship

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As a mommy I love social media, and hate it all at the same time. I’m sure there are lots of other mama’s and creatives that feel the same way! So let the praise/rant begin…

Social Media Love/Hate Relationship North Phoenix Moms Blog

Facebook is the oldest still functioning social media outlet I participate in. Before Facebook was Myspace but those days are long gone, and now that Facebook is open to everyone and not just college students, everyone and (literally) their mothers are on there, which leads me to the love and hates.

I love that I can upload an image of my kids or an interesting article and even a shameless plug for my latest blog post, but I hate that I can’t always share something I’m passionate about for the fear of trolls.  Granted I’ve dwindled my friends list to the very core humans I can interact with, but I still get one or two people arguing with me over political content, or worse, environmental extremism.  Taking care of the Earth isn’t an extreme ideal; it’s the respectful thing to do for the offspring I created, but that’s a rant for a different day.  

I love that people I don’t see frequently share little snippets from their life, but I hate when they mention their kid’s diaper malfunctions – I don’t think it ‘s funny when you post a photo of my literal worst nightmare just to have empathizers.  Gross.  I also recently found out about a term called ‘mommyjacking’ where moms comment something completely unrelated to the original content.  For example, when your friend without kids posts that they’re tired, and a mom comments, ‘You don’t know what tired is until you have 3 kids under two.” (Careful moms … you know who you are, or maybe you don’t … but now I’m super aware of what I’m commenting on kid-free-friend’s posts.) What are your favorite examples of over-sharing or ‘mom jacking’? 

I love that Facebook has groups for chatting with like minded people about various topics, like our neighborhood groups.  I hate that Facebook charges for ads for things I don’t ‘like,’ yet the algorithms limit the posts from pages I ‘like.’ I mean, if I want to see a current sale from my favorite brands or a new post from a fellow creative, shouldn’t ‘liking’ their page be enough to stay informed? Apparently that little blue thumb means nothing.  Speaking of likes … let’s talk about Instagram a minute.

Instagram is probably my favorite form of social media.  I love, as a part time professional photographer, that people are sharing beautiful images from their daily life.  I find images super inspirational and I communicate much more clearly with images, so it really resonates with me.  However, I hate that I second guess an image before posting: Will people like this? Will they find the beauty in what I saw?  Will they think my kids are cute?  Just kidding, I never worry about that.  They’re adorable.  But seriously, when did we start getting so judgmental about ourselves and what we find beautiful?  If we think it is, shouldn’t we want to share that with family and friends without hesitation?  Since I use my Instagram to also promote my photography and travel blogs, I need it to be public, but those personal images with my kids’ faces and location sensitive information I have to either post to a completely separate private profile or forgo sharing all together.  Wouldn’t it be nice if I could just post some images to certain followers only or something similar?  I will say, Instagram’s multiple login update has made managing several personal and professional accounts much easier – too bad I have six yes SIX accounts, and that feature maxes out at five. I also love their new stories feature which lets people share more real moments temporarily without the commitment to desecrating our perfectly manicured accounts.  But yikes, that must be hurting the Snapchat game.

I don’t know how many people are on Snapchat because I was a little late to the trend.  I grabbed a username but always forget to check in.  My kids actually love it, but it freaks me out because they’re young (six and under) and it seems sexting is just around the corner and I’m not ready for that reality, at all.  

Speaking of kids growing up and making poor choices on social media, what are some tips and tricks you all have to keep your kids safe online?!  I keep my cell phone on airplane mode when they ask for it so nothing can come in or out that I can’t monitor.  They love the filters and drawing features; they make little movies and download those and know how to use it better than me, thanks to hanging out with their aunts who are obviously much cooler than me! 

And last but not least, Twitter.  I  never really got into tweeting.  I think it’s a great concept for someone witty and good with words, but I’m more into the photo realm of blogging, and the concept of putting my thoughts into 140 characters or less was just too much pressure.  Plus, I’m the queen of typos and since you can’t edit previous tweets, it’s too embarrassing for me to contribute regularly.  So, I just check in for notifications from cross posting.  I do love when parents tweet short stories about when their kids are being jerks … it’s refreshing to know I’m not alone.  

What about you all?  What are your loves and hates of social media? 

1 COMMENT

  1. Love and hate….isn’t there a thin line between love and hate? Haha….Never did Myspace, and although I have accounts with Instagram and Twitter, I don’t do anything on them. But FACEBOOK, I am the FACEBOOK queen!! Haha. I get to stay in touch with family I have not seen in awhile, friends that live in other states…..but there are those days that I hate it cause I need to get up and do something when all I want to do is sit and play on FB or PINTEREST. My children are grown and my oldest grandson rather play games.

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