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Anyone who has ever been on Facebook knows it can make you feel really badly about yourself. It seems like everyone is prettier, thinner, happier and more talented than you as they smile wide, their teeth gleaming and sparkling while they water ski or scuba dive or vacation in Turkey. It's enough to make anyone go underground. CNN confirms that Facebook does make insecurity worse and make girls feel badly about their looks.
Well, I say it is even WORSE for moms. What mom -- especially vulnerable new moms -- has not gone on Facebook and felt like the biggest loser mom of all time at least once? There are photos of trips, educational opportunities and babies who learn to walk at 8 months. There are status updates about 3-year-old boys who can read and play the cello. And then, of course, there are the mommy wars.
As a new mom, being on Facebook meant being subjected to an onslaught of sanctimonious Facebook postings both from moms who work -- "I could never spend my days only with my children. Thank God I have a brain." -- and those who don't -- "I could not imagine ever leaving little Timmy to go to anything as meaningless as a JOB." You know the drill.
As the kids grow, it only gets worse. We are subjected to first dentist photos that make us say: "crap! I am a bad mom! My kid is almost 4 and has never been!" We get to see dispatches from the Museum of Science on Saturday morning while our kid is still in Cars PJ's, sucking his thumb.
Oops! Bad mommy!
As if that were not bad enough, there are the debates -- homemade baby food versus store bought, breast versus bottle, sling versus stroller -- the mommy "one ups" -- "Isn't that precious that little Lizzy is JUST learning how to do something my Tommy has been doing for a year." and the photos of mommies who are wearing bikinis while holding their 6-week-old and looking better than those who have never given birth.
It's a social minefield for moms. Damn Facebook. I can't quit you. I guess I have to keep letting you make me feel bad.
Does Facebook make you feel badly?
Image via MoneyBlogNewz/Flickr
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