When I was younger we had disposable and later on, digital cameras. There were photo albums and baby books for me and my sister and that’s just the way it was. Where as now we’re lucky enough to have better cameras, more space and social media.
I have a really frustrating relationship with social media. I think it’s incredible for sharing with friends and family you can’t and don’t always see, and it has so many other pros. I love using my Instagram as a virtual photo album for my life with Mark, Grayson and our cat (as well as the physical albums we have) and looking back on all the fun times we’ve had, no matter where I am.
However, I’m also painfully aware of the dark side of social media. I come from somewhere, that when I had Grayson, a number of people that I’d never even spoken to from my town tried to add me and follow me just so they could see a glimpse into my life. This is something I’ve always hated and will probably continue to hate, because I don’t like the idea of people who don’t know me trying to find out about my life and seeing pictures of my son.
This is where my other issue with social media comes into play, I love sharing pictures of Grayson but I also have such a fear of strangers seeing him. Although I love sharing pictures and videos of Grayson (because let’s be honest, the kid is bloody beautiful) I also don’t like the idea of some weirdo somewhere looking at pictures of my baby.
I try to be very careful with the stuff I do share, I obviously don’t share everything. A lot is kept to just Mark and I and our immediate family, and it will stay that way. Once Grayson is older and can communicate properly with me, if he doesn’t want to have pictures or videos put online then of course I would stop. It’s down to Grayson what he wants of himself online.
I think my relationship will always be extremely push and pull with social media, because I can see the pros and love sharing bits of our lives online. At the same time there are a lot of cons to social media and I will continue to be careful and aware of everything I post.
Even though I will continue to share things online regarding our life, I’ll always prefer having physical photos and albums, because as a kid I loved flicking through all of the albums and I hope Grayson does too.