On Feb. 1, Jessa Duggar's husband, Ben Seewald, posted a picture of their son, Spurgeon, on his Instagram. It seemed innocent enough — Spurgeon appears to just be hanging out in a flannel shirt over a white onesie and wearing a pair of fuzzy gray socks. Harmless, right? One would assume so...
Spurgeon instagram
While most of the comments about the picture praised the almighty cuteness of this little nugget and proclaimed the squeezability of his chunky little legs, there was one particular fan that was slightly displeased with the baby's attire.
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"Respect your son's modesty please," the commenter wrote, sparking a debate over what's OK for parents to share on Instagram. The comments that followed defended Spurgeon's attire, saying he's simply wearing a onesie and that all babies wear them to doctor's offices and other places. The angry fan later stated, "I'm not saying that it's wrong, and yes 'most' people post pictures of their kids without pants. However, this is a modest family." The commenter goes on to speculate that if Spurgeon is raised to be as modest as his family is, then a picture like this might embarrass him later in life.
"These pictures could still be circulating on the internet when he's 23. I'm just thinking about how HE might feel," she writes. She later apologizes and says that her words were not meant to be a criticism or a judgment.
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Let's face it: The Duggars/Seewalds are not alone in this quandary. We are living in a time when social media allows us to share every single aspect of our lives. From our food to our shoes to the sunsets we're watching right outside our windows, we share everything. It's a safe assumption that many of us also share photos of our children, grandchildren and babies. And it could also be thoroughly concluded that in some of those moments our kids aren't wearing pants.
Most of these pictures are perfectly innocent (and adorable), but it does raise the question: How far is too far when it comes to what we share on the Internet? The commenter that was concerned about baby Spurgeon's modesty claimed it was simply out of respect for how he might feel about having his life played out online once he's old enough to understand. If he's a modest person, it's possible he might be bothered by these pictures later in life.
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But on the other hand, people post pictures like that all the time, and most of them actually are of uncovered baby butts (they're just so stinkin' cute). Many people see this as completely harmless, but others might take offense. Also, it's important to consider how our own children might feel once they're older and realize that they too had their lives documented online. It's an interesting conversation, one that really has no definitive answers as to what is and is not OK to share online.
So what do you think? Is sharing caring, or does there need to be a line drawn somewhere?
