Social media has changed our lives in so many ways — some for the better and other things that we now have to be more careful of. While some new parents are OK with sharing everything about their new baby with the social media world, some parents are more protective. There's no right or wrong, it comes down to what the parents want.
But it is important to respect the parents' decisions when it comes to their kids on social media. It's not unusual for some parents to keep their kids off any platform — even as newborns, not sharing any photos or giving out their kid's name. That's a struggle one family has had and it's caused a lot of drama.
One woman posted to Reddit to get advice on a situation in her family involving a new baby.
An anonymous woman shared a story in Reddit's AITA community about her sister, her parents, and a feud that started. "My sister just recently had a baby, and is currently on maternity leave," she wrote.
"She and [brother-in-law] are kinda hippie types, and I don't mean that in a bad way — just in that they love the outdoors and don't use any kind of social media or play any video games, and they used to be antivaxxers but thank God not anymore," the poster added.
"Anyway, my sister and BIL have made it very clear they don't want any pictures of their daughter on the internet," she added. And that's where the trouble started.
The new parents' decision to keep their daughter off social media isn't a surprise.
"This came as no surprise to me, but my mom complained about it excessively throughout my sisters whole pregnancy," the woman shared. "Regardless, my sister stood her ground, with BIL backing her up."
It seemed like that boundary was understood, but it became clear that not everyone was going to be respectful. "Earlier this week, I was derping around on my phone at work and saw my mom had posted a picture of my niece on FB," she wrote.
She sent a message to her mom about the photo of her niece on social media.
"I immediately messaged her and told her she needed to take the picture down," the woman said. "She ignored me for a couple hours, so then I texted my sister with screenshots because I knew she wouldn't know about it any other way. Needless to say, my sister was pissed."
Sounds like the woman was looking out for her sister, who had this rule, and didn't use social media to make sure it was being respected.
And then her family made their feelings know, too.
"When I got home from work, my dad took me aside and chewed my a– out about disrespect," OP said, which came as a surprise. "I told him I thought it was disrespectful for my mom to post that picture knowing that my sister and BIL aren't okay with it."
"My sister and BIL obviously side with me, but now I have extended family blowing up my inbox because the photo was taken down before a lot of them could see it," the woman said. A whole fight started in her family, all because she was looking out for her sister.
"I've just ignored them, which is making my mom even more mad at me, but I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to say that will make anyone happy," she added.
She asked the community if she was in the wrong, and if she should have just "stayed out of it."
"Nta," one person wrote. "THEY are the disrespectful ones and I wouldn't be surprised if your sister cut access to her child." Adding, "If you want an excuse, make them aware that people use baby pictures for foul reasons."
"NTA, not her baby to post, not your families baby to see," a second commented. "I'd your sister wanted them to see pics of her child I'm sure she can send them herself"
"NTA- You helped follow through with your sister's wishes," a third agreed. "Tell your mom to log off facebook or she'll miss an opportunity to have a relationship with her granddaughter."
"You're NTA," another agreed. "Your Mum doesn't get to override the wishes of your sister and her husband. The older generation tends to use Facebook like an interactive photo album, without even thinking about where all that information goes and who might be able to access it. It doesn't particularly worry me, but I can understand why other people want to take a step back from the 'share everything' generation."
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
