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November 2011 Moms
evanssj
member
Do pregnant women overshare?
evanssj
member
This was a segment this morning on the Today show. They featured videos of women finding out they were pg. on YouTube and interviewed a woman who "documented" her entire pregnancy on facebook and has a private YouTube video for friends and family of her giving birth.
What do you think? Do many pregnant women overshare? Are pee sticks and complaints about morning sickness TMI?
Here is the article about the segment if you missed it:
https://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42541797/ns/today-parenting/
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Re: Do pregnant women overshare?
YES.
I actually told three friends last weekend that if I become one of those pregnant people (or moms) who uses my fb page to talk constantly about being pregnant or the babies after they're born to please find me and slap me.
I had a friend who announced her pregnancy by posting a picture of her pee stick on fb. You could still see splatters of pee on it. I thought that was ridiculous.
Well, first, I do think that what is shared here on The Bump forums doesn't necessarily count as we all come here for the purpose of hearing the oversharing, I think. We come and post to see how everyone else is doing, compare notes about things, know we're not alone in subjects like constipation, sex, or awkward gas.
I think in one of the books I was reading about pregnancy it mentioned something about how all pregnant women feel a sort of bond in that we're all in some fashion sharing the same thing: making life. The book made some comment about how pregnant women can get into all kinds of discussions about pregnancy just shopping in the grocery store, for example. With the expansion of media and communication, its in blogs, vblogs, etc. It seems like the same thing, just more visible. So m
Furbabies Ribby, JJ, Bella, Hunter
My little Minion!
In my opinion, yes. I'm not much of a sharer though anyway unless it's with very close friends or family members. And even then, I certainly didn't show pictures of the pg test. I didn't even bother showing it to DH.
I'm always amazed that women post pics on facebook immediately after giving birth. Most women look like hell and that's just not something I would want to share with the world. I haven't bothered to post pics in well over a year though, so like I said, I don't share a whole lot anyway with the whole world.
EEW to the pee stick pic. SO wrong! I agree with you about the fb thing, I told my friends the same - if I do that-TELL ME! STOP ME! DO SOMETHING!
A few of my friends have turned their fb page into all things baby. They don't post anything about themselves anymore. It's all baby pics, baby videos, baby updates: "Johnny tried mashed peas today! WOW!" Honestly?
I don't think it's pregnancy.
Everyone overshares now. Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, blogs...everyone puts their stuff out there.
DS born via unplanned C-section at 40w6d
This board has been a lifesaver for "weird things going on" that I need to ask about or learn about! But I wouldn't post some of my questions here on FB....in fact, I haven't even announced on FB yet I am preg. I work with a woman who is a belly toucher and it is going to be a very awkward conversation because I do NOT want people constantly rubbing or touching me!
My friend had some of these pictures posted. Except she looked GORGEOUS, like 10 times better than I look on a normal day. Her hair was done, her make up was done, nothing was out of place, she wasnt sweaty or tired looking. It took me about 30 seconds of looking at the picture to realize that the dr is still down between her legs and there is blood all over her inner thighs. I really did not need to see that.
I do think that people overshare all of the time-- about pregnancy and everything else.
I also know that when the Today show does pieces like this, they often don't bother to tell the backstory of the videos they feature. The first woman shown (in the white tank top and glasses with curly hair) is a dear friend of mine. Kate & her husband Benjamin struggled with infertility and kept a his & hers blog about their experience-- their beautiful son Owen is now 8 months old and they are still blogging almost every day about the challenges of being parents, just like a million other Mommy Bloggers & IF Bloggers. The video featured this morning was shot after a round of fertility treatments & was posted on their blog to share the news with their readers. In the IF community, this is not considered oversharing. When someone successfully gets pregnant, everyone rejoices, because they know what a struggle it's been. I cried the day I saw that video.
Benjamin is a videographer, so it is not out of the norm to see videos posted on their blog. These videos are not meant to shout to the entire internet, "Look at me! Aren't I special?!" YouTube was simply a medium to host a video that would be shared with a specific community-- the readers of their blog. And I don't feel like that's "in your face" at all-- if their readers don't like it, then they simply shouldn't read.
But because these videos are hosted in a public forum, there is nothing to keep Slate and the Today show from broadcasting these videos (without their permission, I might add.) and making the people who shot them seem completely self-centered...when in reality, they are anything but.
I'm going to disagree and say that it's time that pregnancy cease to be shrouded in mystery. People know more about how their iPod or flat screen features work than they do about the normal bodily functions of pregnancy. It has always seemed to me that moms only talked about the real stuff with other moms. So many young women are shocked to find out all of the side effects, and variables in pregnancy.
I also want to slap people who can talk of nothing else and share way too much on facebook, but there has to be a happy medium wherein people actually talk about pregnancy.
This is a really good point, thank you so much for sharing the backstory of this video with us:) It did seem to come off as "look at me" the way Today set up the segment, which is unfortunate given the actual context.
I know a lot of the IF bloggers that I read/followed when I was experiencing IF try to be as anonymous as possible so I am sure that gives some a false sense of security about the info they are posting.
How does your friend feel about being shown on the Today show?
jb and others who said this-I agree with you 100% that a lot of ppl overshare via fb and twitter, it is shocking what some ppl will make public information.
DH and I post alot on FB about our kids. That is our way of sharing things with a lot of family and friends. We don't have time to call everyone on a normal basis so we stay connected with a lot of people on FB. I have a friend who posted about losing her plug and how many cm she was. I won't post things like that but I will post u/s pics and updates from the dr.
I think they were happy to featured on the Today Show, just like most people would be. The piece was relatively harmless, even if Meredith Viera delivered it in a condescending tone... but what else is new?
This isn't the first time their video has recieved publicity. A month ago, Slate wrote an article about "WombTube" and used their video without asking. They never contacted them for permission or a comment-- my friends were slightly irritated about it, but they also understand that when you post something publically, this is a risk you take.
After the Slate article, copycat articles started popping up on tons websites such as: Newser, Babble & The Hairpin.
Kate ended up being interviewed on several radio shows about the "phenomenon" & was able to explain their journey and the context of their video. I think that's all they really wanted.