Unbaby Me

Lisa at Amateur Nester recently blogged about a new feature on Facebook.  It's called Unbaby.Me and it's operated by Google Chrome.  Basically it removes all images of babies and replaces them with random pictures of your choosing (bacon was one of Lisa's examples, which made me laugh and realize I was hungry simultaneously).  I hadn't heard of this yet, but certainly had a "Why didn't someone think of that sooner?" moment when I read her post.

Any infertile who has an account on Facebook has almost certainly had a day where the sight of a baby, any baby, sends them into utter despair.  Although the posters almost certainly didn't mean to, it feels as though they are bragging about having what we are desperately trying for.  Every image is a painful reminder of what we are going through.  This is certainly a way to cut down on that.

Many of us have had the desire to block or unfriend people who we see announce a pregnancy on FB.  A lot of us also have to endure those cringe-worthy parental-complaint posts.  Intellectually we know that they have no idea how that can make others feel, they aren't doing it to hurt anyone, they really do adore their kids, etc, but in the moment, self preservation is more important than "liking" the image of a pudgy smiling infant, or commenting on how hard it must be.

It doesn't sound like this feature will solve all the FB woes.  It doesn't appear to censor actual status updates about children or pregnancy, but it is a start.  Of course, it also might make you hate puppies and kitties and bacon, because deep inside, you'd still know what it represents.

As a member of the resolved IF community, I definitely make a conscious effort to avoid complaining about my kids in any way on FB and in life.  I still remember how I felt when I came across them.  But I do post plenty of pictures and updates about them in my feed, and reading about this app made me wonder if anyone on my friends list cringed seeing pictures I have posted.  I hope not, but on the same token, I wouldn't be in the least offended if they had them changed to pictures of a cute pug or a cookie.  And I would understand if they needed to unfriend me because of it.  I know they would never ask me to refrain from these posts, and I would want them to take care of themselves above all.

Here's a link to Lisa's post:  http://amateurnester.blogspot.com/2013/10/unbaby-me.html

Readers, what are your thoughts?  Is this a good idea?  Do these sort of pictures and posts on FB bother you?  Would you be offended if your images were changed or you were blocked for these reasons?