How social media tries to exploit your pregnancy | Social media

I am so happy to see an article published on the impact of social media on pregnant and new mothers (“ I felt condemned ”: social media guessed that I was pregnant – and my flow quickly became horrible, September 3). I say “mothers” as I noticed that my husband was not subject to the same algorithms as me. Me too, I found it completely crushing when I was pregnant and I got out of all social media, because the suggested coils with which I was barred were only creating anxiety for me as a new parent.

I decided that it was a toxic message that I didn’t need to be aware. As there are a lot of positive things on social networks – for example, groups connecting you with new local mothers – it was a shame to miss what could have happened in my region.

I joined Facebook to connect with the others after having a baby, but I was soon spamned with nonsense (I remember many coils saying that you have hampered the development of your baby if they wore socks), which, in my sleep and time, I found myself doing time, and being sent to the essence, or comparing myself with myself. I didn’t need this negative influence in my life when I was trying to find my feet as a parent. Parents have enough to worry.
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To avoid the exact situation described in this article, I made my husband make the whole site of pregnancy and pregnancy and research under his profiles so that the algorithms do not know that I was a woman of almost 40 years who was trying to get pregnant. For the most part, it worked. It seemed to be an easy and useful thing that he could do for us with the family – and it was worth it.

I really had trouble with all the Instagram messages “You should not do this” during the first year of my baby – to the point where it made me doubt myself, so I just deleted the application. I bought a few books of trust and I made a lot of parents in my local education center, and I used them for advice. Focus on your baby and what they need, and when you don’t know something, or think that something is disabled, get the help of a source of trust. Think about this way – the energy and time you spend on social networks is spent eliminating energy and focusing from being in tune with your baby and family. Go down the applications.
Vera Santillana
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

When I read Kathryn Wheeler’s article, I had a “AHA” moment. As a clinical psychologist, I saw many mothers and new mothers with anxiety induced by the competition. Social media has the gift of taking normal concern and composing it. As Kathryn noted, it is by design. Moms are particularly vulnerable: during pregnancy and postpartum, the tonsil, the brain threat detector, is supercharged. It is the way of nature to ensure that new mothers are aware of the potential threats to their babies, but, online, it means lingering on more scary messages. The algorithms read this break as a “like” and will stack more content inducing fear.

Worse still, the technological industry knows this. In 2012, the New York Times reported how Target understood that a teenager was pregnant before her family. If the retailers used data like this more than a decade ago, you can bet today today know how to keep the new mums hanging. Combine this with research showing that people of negative mood are more likely to make pulse purchases, and the design becomes clear: Stoke Fear, trigger clicks and sell more things. However, the cost is much higher than a simple credit card bill.

This cycle can worsen postpartum and anxiety depression. But let’s be realistic: completely disconnect can signify isolation and career setbacks, especially for new mothers already risky to feel cut. The real problem is that the system is designed to exploit the most vulnerable moments of mothers. I am with your writer that it is our social responsibility to protect vulnerable groups when they travel online.
Dr Alla Prokhovnik-Rapique
New York, United States

I write to share my personal experience to manage social media during pregnancy and a miscarriage. The algorithm guessed that I was pregnant a few days after I had a positive pregnancy test; I do not know how it happened because I had never interacted with anything to do with pregnancies or babies before that. I didn’t even try to get pregnant. I remember thinking: “What if I have a miscarriage and I had to see it all?” And that’s unfortunately what happened. It was so painful. And it doesn’t matter how many times I went to my parameters to tell him not to show me these announcements, they continued to come. Finally, they stopped, but it took a good time to be outside social.
Lauren Fairley
Stockport, Greater Manchester