为何新妈妈们热衷晒娃？

We've all got friends who might overshare a little when it comes to putting their personal lives on Facebook, and the phenomenon can be particularly noticeable with new parents, who sometimes can't seem to stop themselves from posting baby updates, pics, videos, and more pics.
说到在脸书上晒个人生活，我们也许都有一些分享过度的朋友，对新父母来说这一现象尤为明显，他们有时似乎抑制不住自己发宝宝的新动态、照片、视频，以及更多的照片。

Now a new study looks at the psychological motivations that can influence some new mothers to post so much on social media, and the findings suggest that they could be oversharing in less-than-healthy ways.
现在，一项新研究调查了可能会影响一些新妈妈在社交媒体过度晒娃的心理动机，结果表明过度分享可能并不是健康的方式。

"If a mother is posting on Facebook to get affirmation that she's doing a good job and doesn't get all the 'likes' and positive comments she expects, that could be a problem. She may end up feeling worse," said psychologist Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan from Ohio State University.
“如果一位妈妈在脸书上晒娃是为了得到认可，肯定自己是个好妈妈，但是收到的赞和肯定的评论与她所期待的有差距，就可能成为问题。最后她也许感觉更糟，”俄亥俄州立大学心理学家莎拉•绍珀-莎利文说道。

Schoppe-Sullivan and her team tracked 127 mothers in Ohio from when they were pregnant through to after their babies were born. The women were asked questions during the third trimester of their pregnancy about how much they believed society expected them to be perfect parent.
绍珀-莎利文和她的团队跟踪调查了俄亥俄州的127位母亲，从怀孕期间一直到孩子出生。这些女子在妊娠晚期（后三个月）回答了一些问题，关于她们在多大程度上相信社会对她们成为完美母亲有所期待。

After the birth, they were tested on how strongly they identified with their role as mothers, rating how much they agreed with statements such as: "I know people make judgments about how good of a partner/mother I am based on how well cared for my house and family are."
生产之后，她们接受了关于母亲身份认同感强度的测试，根据认可程度给一些语句打分，比如“我知道人们会根据我对家庭的照顾情况判断我是不是一个好妻子或好母亲。”

The participants' use of Facebook was also monitored after the babies were born, including the frequency of activity and how often they uploaded photos of their babies, plus recording the mothers' emotional responses to their Facebook friends' comments and likes (or lack thereof).
孩子出生后，妈妈们的脸书使用情况也被追踪了，包括使用频率和上传孩子照片的频率，还有妈妈们对脸书上朋友们的评论和赞（或没有赞）的情绪反应。

The researchers found that those women who believed society had greater expectations of them as mothers – and who identified strongly with their motherhood role – were highly sensitive to feedback on their social media posts.
研究者发现，那些认为社会对她们有较高期待的和对母亲身份认同感较高的妈妈们对社交媒体的反馈高度敏感。

"These mothers paid close attention to the comments they got when they posted pictures of their baby," said one of the team, Jill Yavorsky. "They felt validated when they got a lot of likes and comments, but they were also more likely to feel bad and disappointed when the reaction wasn't what they had hoped."
“这些母亲们密切关注着晒出孩子照片后收到的评论，”团队成员之一吉尔•亚沃尔斯基说。“当她们收到许多赞和评论的时候就会感觉受到了肯定，但是如果反响并不像自己希望的那样，她们就更有可能感觉糟糕和失望。”

Another of the study's findings showed how incredibly pervasive the use of Facebook is when it comes to mothers sharing news and images of their babies. A stunning 98 percent of mothers in the study uploaded photos of their infant to the site, and 80 percent of these mums had replaced their personal profile photo with a picture of their baby.
此研究的另外一个结果显示，妈妈们在脸书上晒孩子动态和照片的行为极为普遍。研究中多达98%的母亲上传过宝宝的照片，80%的母亲把自己的头像换成了孩子的照片，比例之高令人瞠目。

"What these mothers are saying is that my child is central to my identity, at least right now," said Schoppe-Sullivan. "That's really telling."
“这些母亲所要表达的是，我的孩子是我身份的中心，起码现在是，”绍珀-沙利文说。“这真的非常明显。”

Separate research has suggested the average US parent posts almost 1,000 photos of their child online before the child turns five years old.
另外一项研究曾表明，美国父母在孩子五岁之前平均会在网上晒近1000张照片。

These figures might not shock regular Facebook users who've become used to seeing baby photos and updates populating their newsfeed, but think about it – 1,000 photos. Of course, the researchers from Ohio State acknowledge that their small sample of 127 women from Ohio were mostly highly educated women from dual-career couples, so their results certainly aren't representative of new mothers from other walks of life.
这些数字也许并不会让经常使用脸书的用户感到诧异，他们已经习惯了看婴儿照片和布满信息流的新动态，但是你想一想——1000张照片啊。当然，俄亥俄州的研究员承认127个俄亥俄女性的样本比较小，她们大多数受教育程度比较高，夫妻都有工作，因此他们的研究结果肯定不能代表其它阶层和地域的新妈妈们。

But the results could be a timely reminder that while social media can be a valuable way of keeping in touch with friends and family, people should be wary of letting it dictate how they feel about their lives, especially when it comes to something as important as parenting your children.
但是，这一研究结果可能及时提醒了人们，虽然社交媒体是联系亲友的宝贵方式，但是要警惕不要让它主宰我们对生活的感受，尤其是养育孩子这么重要的事情。

"It's great to share stories and pictures of your baby, but relying on Facebook to feel good about your parenting may be risky," said Schoppe-Sullivan.
“分享宝宝的故事和照片很好，但是从脸书中寻求育儿的良好感受可能有风险，”绍珀-沙利文说。

In addition to negatively affecting how new mothers may feel about themselves, uploading images of your children to social media – despite its popularity – is a topic of some controversy.
除了对新妈妈的自我感觉有消极影响之外，上传自己孩子的照片到社交媒体尽管很流行，但却是个有点争议的话题。

Posting images of your children on the internet without their consent might be intended as a good-natured act, but it could also be considered unfair, especially as children grow up.
没经过孩子允许就在网上发他们的照片，妈妈们可能会觉得她们的动机是好的，但孩子们可能会认为这不公平，尤其是当他们长大以后。

In France, authorities have gone as far as to warn parents they could face up to a year in prison and a fine of €45,000 (US$50,200) for publicising details of their children's lives on social media without their consent.
在法国，有关部门甚至警告父母们，不经孩子同意就在社交媒体上宣扬他们的生活细节，将面临长达一年的监禁和4.5万欧元（5.02万美元）的罚款。

Aside from how it makes young people feel as they grow up – with widely circulated and perhaps less-than-flattering images of them being shared online without their permission – there's also the threat of losing personal anonymity as things like facial recognition technology and data-mining businesses become more powerful and sophisticated.
除了会影响孩子们长大后的感受——不经孩子允许就在网上分享他们不太好看的照片而且还被广泛传播——随着脸部识别技术和数据挖掘公司变得更强大更高端，晒娃的行为还威胁到孩子的匿名身份。

So sharing cute photos of your little one growing up might seem perfectly fine now, but by disseminating that information across the web, you might be unilaterally surrendering information about your child that can't be regained. Post responsibly, people!
所以，尽管分享小宝宝成长过程中的可爱照片现在看来也许没问题，但是在网上传播有可能是单方面泄露孩子信息的行为，一旦泄露就无可挽回。人们啊，发贴时负点责任吧！

Vocabulary

trimester: 三个月
telling: 显露真相的，显著的
walks of life: 各界，各行各业
flattering: 讨人喜欢的
surrender: 交出；投降

英文来源：sciencealert
译者：实习生孙美真
审校&编辑：丹妮