Shall we just talk about social media? I often think about Instagram and how I might come across on there. I have quite a few followers, around about 3000 on my last check. I think for an average mum in her 40’s that is probably quite a lot of followers, I think I gained the majority if my memory is correct when I first had the twins. I assume most of these followers are robots if that’s even a thing because I get about 30 likes on a post and only comments from people I know. I do not mean to sound like I am complaining about that by the way, Instagram is not my job it is just Instagram a place for me to upload and store my photos to make memories for me.
Sometimes it does occur to me that if we met and we inevitably followed each other on social media that if you noticed I have 3000 followers you might think more of my account than it is worth. What I mean to say is that you might somehow think I have a ‘following’ on there and expect fascinating content with depth and meaning but in reality I do not post ‘real’ stuff on Instagram because I assume nobody is really looking at my posts hard enough or long enough to read or care about the captions. So therefore you might think that I am one of those perfect Mums. I could have had the worst day ever and be crying in my soup but I will still post a cute pic of the boys and say something like ‘My World, so blessed!’ I do not mean to be fake, they are my world and I am so blessed but I do not have the guts I suppose to post the real honest truth all the time which might involve me locked in the toilet for 2 minutes longer than necessary just for a minute of peace or posting an ugly crying photo saying ‘why is this so hard??’ I listen to podcasts occasionally with guests who talk about the importance of being honest on social media but I can never tell if they are talking to me average Mum or just celebrities, influencers etc… Do you want to see more honesty from every single person you follow?
I suppose I don’t post ugly crying images because I might just get zero response but mostly, even though I know I should not care what others think, I just cannot bring myself to post this type of content because I am so concerned that other people will think ‘oh, look at her trying to be a Mummy Influencer’ but why do I care what other people think?’ Imagine if every honest Mummy Influencer thought like me? There wouldn’t be any honest Mums online and we would all think that every other mother is making organic carrot soup for their perfect little cherubs and we are the only one feeding them fish fingers for the fourth night in a row!
I also listen to lots of ‘directed at Mummy’ podcasts where a lot of the guests who have a big following on Instagram, Twitter or Tik Tok (fair enough otherwise why would they be guests in the first place?) talk about how their Social Media is their ‘village’ and they use their followers as their extended family to go to for advice or to let off steam. I guess being totally truthful I am envious of this as I don’t have the big group of friends to turn to at times of need, so sometimes I do feel a bit lonely and like i’m the only person in the whole wide world whose kids won’t go to bed, or brush their teeth, or eat their dinner, or put on their shoes, or put down their iPad…
Maybe I should start being more honest on my Instagram account to encourage other Mums to connect with me and then maybe I won’t feel so alone? What are your thoughts on the world of social media?
NJ x
nicola jayne 