Over-Sharing Parents, Beware

It's super exciting that your little toddler piddled in the potty for the first time and you want to share photographic evidence of the moment with all of your friends on Facebook. Well, you might want to reconsider before you hit the "share" button. 

There are a slew of websites these days dedicated to informing over-sharing parents that their childless friends are over reading about their kid's crap, literally. Take for instance, the blog ST*U, Parents, a submission-based "public service" blog that pokes fun at parents whose Facebook statuses have been hijacked with inane updates about their children.

The author of the site, known simply as "B," created the blog in 2009 in response to annoying parental over-share posts that popped up in her own Facebook feed. The formula is pretty simple; people anonymously send B screenshots of their friend's absurd updates, she edits the image to remove any identifying marks, and then unleashes snarky commentary under each post.

The blog is a smashing success and covers everything from "Woe is Mom" submissions, where moms use Facebook as a platform to complain to "Mommyjacking" which Urban Dictionary defines as the moment "when a person's conversation/comments/Facebook status is followed up with something about their friend's children, when it has nothing to do with the conversation."

Although it may sound mean spirited, B insists that it's really meant to be all in good fun. "I think my site mocks the worst of the worst - pictures of poop, or parents who just don't know how to edit themselves when describing anything parenting-related," B declared "I would never begrudge a friend posting about her child taking his first steps, for instance, but maybe if she posted 300 pictures and 17 videos, I would consider that over-share."

Another site that reflects just how fed up people have grown with infant-laden Facebook updates is UnBaby.me, a new Google Chrome extension created by Pete Marquis, Chris Baker and Yvonne Cheng that uses keywords to permanently swap out pictures of babies on your newsfeed with photos of bacon or anything of your choosing. For the most part, UnBaby.me has been well received and in its first week it had already gotten 70,000 "likes" on Facebook and almost 30,000 users.

Critics argue that the popularity of these sites reflect an "anti-parent" message that begrudges happy moms and dads from sharing the most precious moments of their little one's lives. B assures us all that this is simply not the case.

"It's honestly not meant to be mean-spirited. It's meant to be tongue-in-cheek, funny, and maybe a little pointed in its critique of the way some parents use social media," B said. She also feels that even though her site focuses on parents, everyone can be guilty of over-sharing sometimes, not just parents.

"However, I can promise that no one will ever see a picture of poop on my page, which is more than the parents featured on my site can say."

Are you guilty of over-sharing about your kids on Facebook? Do you find these sites offensive or funny? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.