This morning the TODAY Show ran a piece asking the question if posting to social networks or YouTube about pregnancy is TMI. Apparently the poll on their website, which was specifically directed about announcing a pregnancy via YouTube, showed that 63% of respondents felt that some things should be private.
Obviously, I think people should share whatever they care to share. I myself haven't posted and videos to YouTube about my pregnancy, nor do I plan to, but I'm not a habitual YouTuber (in fact, I rarely even use the search for anything), but I blogged about the IVF process and I've periodically blogged about my pregnancy. I've posted random things to Facebook about my pregnancy as well.
We live in a world where people now share every minute detail of their lives online. We are exhibitionists and voyeurs. The number of wedding dance videos that have been posted is astounding. So many of those people have been celebrated by shows like TODAY and have performed their dance "live on the plaza." Parents post videos of their children and are also lauded on morning shows getting their fifteen minutes of fame for a kid who cries because he's "too little to be governor of New Jersey" or their twins who might be "talking." But a woman posts about her pregnancy and it's considered a bad thing?
I find it interesting what the media will discuss with such a positive spin versus what they question as being "inappropriate."
Kids being kids -- appropriate and adorable and worth showing over and over.
Wedding dances -- appropriate and again work showing over and over ad nauseum.
And the people who post things that are "appropriate" in the media's eyes tend to say, "I didn't think it would become such a sensation." I think that's a load of crap. You don't post to the Internet, whether a Tweet, a Facebook post, a YouTube video or a blog, and claim you didn't think people would see it or react. You're asking for an audience. You're asking for a reaction.
Why pregnancy is considered to be something which should remain private amazes me. Normal people talking about their journeys is important and it is in stark contrast to the stories shows like TODAY run about pregnancy. We hear about the Duggard family which has something like 19 children and now also have at least one grandchild. We are bombarded by stories about the Octomom, but call posting about cravings, swollen feet and ankles (very normal pregnancy symptoms) "too much information"? Why are we fascinated by extremes and not by the simplistic beauty of a natural process?
I had no idea what pregnancy would be like and while the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy has lots of great information, it's very technical. It doesn't address how it really feels to be pregnant and it is AMAZING. I am astounded by what the human body can do. Mine has undergone so many changes and I'm not sure I can even explain what it has been like. I have back aches, my feet and ankles swell up during the day, I'm hungry constantly, but have no cravings and every time I feel the girls move, I melt. I am completely in love with these two lives growing inside of me.
And yes, I have posted brief comments about the aches and pains to Facebook and have received a litany of responses from people with concerns and advice and have had to remind myself that you don't post to Facebook if you don't want someone to comment (this goes for everything, not just pregnancy). You see, every pregnancy is different and what is normal for one person might be completely foreign to another.
Another reason why women sharing their experiences with one another is a beautiful thing and vilifying them for doing such seems just silly to me.
