Thinking that this is weird. That in our current world full of accessible smartphones and advanced technology, we are constantly recording our everyday lives. And that that is a little weird.

I say this fully aware that I am one of those people capturing photos and videos almost daily. I love to capture special moments, hard moments and all the in-between of my adventures, children, and every day life. I have always been like this; purchasing disposable film cameras since I was 13 years old to take photos of me and my friends, then taking photos at every university party with my digital camera to post on Facebook, and then taking photos with my iPhone to post on Instagram as I explored yoga for the first time in my early 20’s. I experience something exciting or see something beautiful and I instantly think, “I need to record this.” It’s a knee jerk reaction. Completely subconscious. And that’s weird.

I have been thinking, that to have a strong intuitive reaction to record our life’s events with technology might not be healthy. Our world has advanced so quickly with devices and their abilities that I don’t know if anyone truly knows the long term impacts this might have on us and future generations. Being born in the year 1990, I am one of the last generations that remembers life before internet as well as experienced the insane boom and growth of technology. I went from dial up internet, my first Hotmail account and AOL chats -> to MySpace and Limewire -> to flip phones and the original Facebook -> to smartphones and Instagram -> and now to all the other apps and tech accessories easily available. It’s mind-blowing to think how everything changed so fast. Pretty much every 5 years there was a whole new way to connect with others and explore creative possibilities online.

At first I very much enjoyed it. As mentioned earlier, I have always loved photography, and these early social media programs generally centred around posting photos and being creative. So I enthusiastically became very involved in social media, so much so that I graduated from Business school with a Bachelors in Marketing. I invested countless hours into growing my accounts as I learned how the algorithms functioned and what generated the most interest in the photography I shared. I started to market myself through hosting monthly yoga challenges on Instagram and posting information about the yoga classes I was teaching. And it worked! I not only received lots of positive feedback, but I gained new global yogi connections and local yoga students through these campaigns, some of which I still continue to connect with today! I was also gifted many yoga clothes, props and accessories by companies wanting partner with me. And when moved across Canada and to Australia, my yoga accounts became my resume for studios to hire me as a yoga teacher. My love for social media turned into a side job that I deeply enjoyed, which encouraged me to continue pursing success on my Instagram account.

Then I had children.

My content drastically changed from yoga life to family life. I changed my account name to facilitate this change and gained new connections in the parenting world. I also then started partnering with parenting brands instead, and received many gifts, again encouraging me that I was doing a great job with my account and my time.

But now I wasn’t marketing just myself, and as my kids have gotten older and developed more personality and voice for their own desires, I have started to question if this is right. Is it right to have their faces shared publicly for the world to see without them truly understanding and being able to consent? Is it just the new normal that all kids will see themselves online in the years to come? Or are we setting them up for a challenging experience in school and adulthood with limited privacy? I also sometimes pause when I’m taking a photo/video of my kids and think, “gosh it’s weird that they see a phone in-front of their faces so often.” And what’s more interesting is that I don’t think a camera would be as weird. Even though they both take photos, the camera feels less invasive.

Overall I do not have an answer. I am mulling here asking the same questions you are. I just want to raise my kids in the best way possible, and lately have been questioning if that involves social media and smartphones. I’m considering adding a house landline (haven’t had one of those since I moved out of my parents house at 18 years old) for our kids instead of giving them cell phones. And when we do give them cell phones (hopefully around 12 years old), I’d like them to start with flip phones instead of smartphones. I am also considering not taking my cellphone with me everywhere anymore, but instead taking my bulky but wonderful Canon camera with me to events I want to photograph instead. I recognize I do not have a healthy relationship with my phone at the moment (aka I need less screen time) which means I am not modelling a healthy relationship with technology for my kids. And what we model, they are much more likely to become.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Appreciate you taking the time to read my thoughts and cannot wait to read yours 🙂

Love & Light,

Nicole