In this episode, we talk about parenting in the age of social media, why it seems like liberals are more likely to be diagnosed with a mental disorder, and why we should all be worried about what we're doing with our kids.
00:00:00.000Hello and welcome to Misunderstood, the show for the culturally and politically misunderstood
00:00:23.700lady or gent. We are your hosts. I'm Nat. And I'm Kat. Today we're going to talk about parenting in the age of social media, why it seems liberals are more likely to be diagnosed with a mental disorder. That's true. And Barbie! Barbie! Yay! But first, a culture shock moment of the week. Take it away, Nat. Yeah, so y'all, moms who went through COVID breakups say solo parenting is much easier. For some reason, though, it feels
00:00:53.700like a cheat. Maybe because you cheated on your husband during COVID? Yeah, with yourself. Yeah. Like, maybe you just put all your needs and wants before your family's? Hmm. I don't know. It does actually say something in the article about, um, yeah, I wrote it. I didn't write it down. It says something about, like, self-care is easier. Yeah, I don't understand how. Well, because I'll tell you that. You can lay in the tub with cucumbers over your eyes while a babysitter raises your child and your child
00:01:23.680grows up to have, um, relationship and commitment issues because of their divorced parents. Right. Well, it's good for you and your cucumbers. Well, it must be nice. And I think, okay, I think moms are amazing. Moms need breaks. They deserve breaks. Yes. But during the pandemic, like, that would have been hard on everyone. It would have been hard on your husband, would have been hard on you, your children, depending on your financial situation, depending on everything. So, like, I don't like this, like, victim status that moms are trying to claim during the pandemic
00:01:53.680Yeah. Also, the pandemic, it was long, but it was only two years. Yeah. Like, of a marriage. Yeah. Marriage is supposed to be a lifelong commitment. Yeah. It's not a casual, like, haven't you been married for most of the pandemic? Yeah. Well, I've been married three years now. And it's funny because they talk about, like, stresses on the marriage that are, like, undeniable. And it's like, but what about for better, for worse? You know, for richer, for poorer? Like, okay, your spouse lost their job? Well, tough love. You signed up to be with that person regardless of those sorts of,
00:02:23.660strains that you face in a marriage. Yeah. Just really selfish and, like, it is. I don't know. And it's weird that, I think this is from Insider, how they're totally glamorizing divorce and, like, in the picture. And being a single mom. And being a single mom. And the picture on the article is, like, a drawing of a woman holding her baby and they're, like, smiling and then the dad's, like, packing up his car in the background. I just want to read, yeah, it's very, like, I want to read a small quote from it. I know this is just a culture shock, so we shouldn't get too much into it, but it's shocking to me. It is. Yeah. Anyways, it says,
00:02:51.720The variety of pandemic-related stressors on marriages has been undeniable, including financial stress due to job loss, which you mentioned, additional child care burdens, and inescapable together time.
00:03:02.580So, like, they list three things. Two of them are actually better with a partner. Like, financial stress due to job loss. Yeah. Better with a partner. Additional child care burdens. Better with a partner. Yeah.
00:03:14.840And inescapable together time. Again, like, yeah, it's tough being locked in the room with somebody, but, like, ideally, your spouse is someone you can tolerate.
00:03:22.100Or, you know, go for a walk. Yeah. You know, there are ways. In some places, that was illegal. Sure. That's true. But, you know, just break the law. You're willing to break up your family, but you're not willing to break the law.
00:03:31.940Yeah. Seriously. Seriously. You know? It's sad. It is sad. It's sad. Anyway, so, um, it's all part of the great reason.
00:03:38.720It's true. They want you to have nothing, including a family. Yeah. Okay. Great. Okay. Let's move on. So, uh, Hollywood parents. Okay. Let's end some boundaries with kids. Get into maybe a little bit of that.
00:03:49.900And social media. Like, it's, it's about, a lot of these articles are about Hollywood people. Yeah. But they apply to the average person who posts their kid on the internet.
00:03:57.840A thousand percent. Yeah. So, this is an article from Vice, and obviously, they tend to lean a little bit more left. But I thought a lot of the stuff they shared was pretty factual. Like, I didn't think it would.
00:04:08.300It really leaned one way or the other, which is nice. It's refreshing. So, why you need to be more careful about turning your family into content.
00:04:15.960So, basically, in summary, guys, it's never been easier for people to steal your identity. And guess what? They can start with your baby.
00:04:25.000They can steal your baby's identity. Yeah. That's, that was the most shocking part to me. Because it's like, so, the dangers that they mention here are specifically identity theft.
00:04:33.060And then also setting your kid up to be stalked or abused or kidnapped. Yeah. If you're posting too much personal information.
00:04:39.240But I never thought about, like, setting your kid up to have their identity stolen when they're grown up. Yeah.
00:04:46.140Like, by posting their birthday and their favorite, like, what was the, that's often the questions.
00:04:50.060Like a code for a bank account. Exactly. Like, what are your secret questions? Like, oh, what was the name of your first school?
00:04:54.180What was the name of your first childhood best friend? The street you lived on. Exactly.
00:04:56.780Your first vacation. Exactly. So, you're posting those things for all the world to see. And it's, and some of these things are talking about how teachers will post private information about your kid.
00:05:07.020Yeah. Like, teachers do not post anything about someone else's child on the internet. My goodness. Yeah. My goodness gracious.
00:05:13.180Well, and I think, like, obviously, social media is a wonderful tool that connects people together, especially, you know, during the pandemic where we live out of province, away from our family and friends and stuff.
00:05:21.800It's nice to see their little babies online. Yeah. But one thing I think is important to note, too, like, your kids can't consent to this at all.
00:05:28.480Like, your little baby that you're sharing the photo of doesn't know what the heck's going on.
00:05:32.280And one day they may grow up and be like, hey, that's not, I'd feel a bit, like, invaded. Yeah. A little bit, you know?
00:05:37.860Especially if you're an influencer and you're monetizing it. Yeah. Like, it's exploitative.
00:05:41.920Yeah. One of the people here, it's like this lifestyle influencer said that she's often asked to include her young son on marketing campaigns and she's learning to say no. Wow.
00:05:50.880I mean, the fact that she's saying I'm learning to say no means you know it's wrong.
00:05:54.460Yeah. You know it's wrong, but you've done it in the past so much that you're only now learning to say no.
00:05:58.240And she's like, whenever I post a picture of my child, I always make sure that, like, a family member's in the picture with them.
00:06:04.580I don't see how that changes anything. Yeah. I don't really either.
00:06:07.320How does that, like, a pervert can crop you out no problem.
00:06:10.240Right. That's the thing. And when you're sharing a photo and you're on a public domain, like, literally the whole world has access to that.
00:06:16.620And you cannot filter those people out. No. And you can't get it out. Exactly.
00:06:19.500And you can't get it back. Yeah. We know that. Exactly.
00:06:21.760And, like, we've talked about, like, toxic mommy culture on the show before, too.
00:06:24.460And a lot of times we see moms will post for likes just to get, like, but it'll be at the expense of their own child.
00:06:30.860And it's like, we've talked about this already, but, like, when your child grows up and they see that you're calling them an asshole for doing nothing wrong.
00:06:36.480Like, one of the articles that we talk about is, like, that TikTok trend where they trick their kid into thinking that they're going to go fight another parent.
00:06:43.760Like, I need you to come with me. I need backup because we're going to go fight this other mom and the kid.
00:06:48.060And they're like, oh, like, she's a ride or die. It's like, you're traumatizing your child.
00:06:52.680First of all, you're lying to their face. And you're scaring them.
00:06:55.460You're scaring them. You're teaching them. If they don't understand it's a joke because they're so young, you're teaching them that violence is that way to resolve conflict.
00:07:02.320Yeah. And you're doing it all for likes. Yeah. Or money.
00:07:05.960Yeah. It's kind of gross. It's horrible.
00:07:06.900And, like, what do you really get from getting a million likes on your Instagram posts?
00:09:49.820I don't really, I don't have super strong convictions about it, but I think, like, I don't know, once it's on the Internet, it's there forever.
00:09:55.720And someone, some creep might take advantage of that.
00:09:58.920So I just think it's something to keep in mind.
00:10:00.460And especially when it comes to posting, like, photos of your kids in, like, swimsuits.
00:10:25.780But it's different when you're posting, like, one of the things in this article is, like, nannies will, this one woman worked for a nanny agency.
00:10:34.520And she said, we have very strict rules about, like, you can't post anything about day trips.
00:10:39.400First of all, I don't understand why you're posting about your client's kids anyways.
00:14:25.180And Kim's just, and I think someone on the internet, because, you know, the internet, they said that the custody hearing is, like, next month between her and Kanye.
00:14:33.080So, that's why she's bringing North and the kids out so much more than she used to.
00:14:36.740Because, like, she used to just walk around with her skimpy outfits alone.
00:17:22.760Speaking of parents who actually have a bit of a different approach to this, Cardi B actually is trying to raise her kids to understand their privilege, and she explains in this article why she never hired a nanny.
00:17:33.380I didn't know she was so kind of down to earth.