Back in the day, you had to wait a few hours or even days to hear about, much less see the result, of a friend’s labor and delivery. But thanks to social media and mobile devices, birth can be live-blogged and newborn photos shared just minutes after delivery. According to a survey from Huggies of 1000+ new moms, 67% of new moms share just-born pics straight from the delivery room.
However, what do the friends and family of the 67% feel about seeing photos of what used to be an ultra-private moment? Has it all just gotten to be TMI? When I had my son, I knew my long-distance parents and friends were waiting to hear the baby news, so I posted photos of my swaddled baby burrito a few hours later. Everyone felt in-the-loop quickly. And let’s face it: I wanted to show off the fruits of my, uh, labor.
However, humor site STFU Parents has examples of people posting graphic shots of their C-section, in-progress water births or babies covered in afterbirth goo, and I think we can all agree maybe those should be reserved for the inner circle—or at least people who express interest in seeing them. I don’t need to see my 4th grade friend’s placenta pop up on my screen while I’m eating lunch at my desk.
Overall, 71% of moms said that having kids changed their feelings about what they’d share on social media, proving the urge to brag apparently birthed right along with the baby.
Mom of two Sasha Emmons is a writer and editor. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.
A version of this story originally appeared on iVillage.