I'll never understand that.
I'm really the kind of person who believes in "live and let live."
Okay, your food.
Okay, your camping trip.
Okay, your new tank.
But posting photos of your SICK child on Facebook?
Here we are in 2018. Modern times, man.
To see your child, pale as a ghost in a hospital bed, your child covered in pimples that feel clearly not on social media.
I'm not even kidding—I have a lot of moms like that on my Facebook, too.
"Poor little one, he caught (insert illness) today."
For you, the first thing that comes to mind—and that you think is really great—is to pull out your cell phone and share it on Facebook.
What were they doing back in '92 when Facebook didn't exist? Did our ancestors hop on their horses and carts to ride around the village and spread the word that Timothy had caught scurvy?!
When I was young, I wouldn't have liked it at all if my mom had taken out her cell phone while I was lying in my hospital bed, wearing an oxygen mask because I was having an asthma attack, and posted a picture of that on Facebook. I mean, come on—that's humiliating.
There's absolutely nothing fun about it for the child.
I understand that sometimes it feels like forever, and you need to chat. But if you really want to talk about your sick children, you can always send private messages.
I can just hear you saying, “Well, then, just delete those parents from your Facebook if you’re not happy.”
You don't get my point if you think that.
It's not that it bothers me—even though it upsets me to see it; I'm speaking right now on behalf of the child, who himself feel Not at all—he's lying down and throwing up his guts (or something), but there are 4 or 5 photos of him from different angles circulating on Facebook showing him in that position. I'm sure he'll be really happy to see those when he's 18.
I'm not saying I'm perfect—I've probably made plenty of mistakes since I joined Facebook—but I just want to express my concern about this trend.
I'll admit that I post photos of my daughter on a regular basis.
My daughter at the park, having fun, my daughter pulling a funny face… yes, I know these are just “the good parts,” but I think Facebook lacks positivity, and that people would rather see a child on a slide than in a bed in the emergency room.
Obviously, I didn't want to use a photo of a sick child as the article's featured image.
So here is a happy child.