mother
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
, often utilizing sites such as Instagram. The term "dadfluencer" is less common, and refers to a
father
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...
instead.
The term carries with it possible connotations of stress or obligation, felt by the new mother, in terms of the new mother feeling the need to take a high volume of pictures of a new child and share these pictures on such social media sites. Some momfluencers claim to use the new motherhood position in tandem with social media as a means to earn additional income, while others assert that "the influencer scene fully believes that nobody is actually making any money".
History
The term first came into use in the early 2000s, along with the rise of social media and mobile phone technology which facilitated the ease of widespread sharing of personal baby photos from new mothers with a digital audience.
Meaning and use
The term is a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsMom and
Influencer
An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...
. A 'momfluencer' may refer to a new mother that may have "...social media followings in the tens of thousands or even millions..." where the new mother may share, "...tips and inspiration to their fellow moms..." about various duties of a new mother that might consist of installing a
car seat
A car seat is the seat used in automobiles. Most car seats are made from inexpensive but durable material in order to withstand prolonged use. The most common material is polyester.
Bucket seat and bench seat
A bucket seat is a separate ...
or other such activities. Some mothers associated with minority racial or ethnic groups are alleged to be paid less than their peers in racial and ethnic majority groups, in part due to, "...limited
financial transparency
In economics, a market is transparent if much is known by many about: What products and services or capital assets are available, market depth (quantity available), what price, and where. Transparency is important since it is one of the theoretic ...
."
Criticism
Some have criticized "mom influencer" culture for being overly focused on materialistic pursuits, or in building a form of
rat race
A rat race is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. The phrase equates humans to rats attempting to earn a reward such as cheese, in vain. It may also refer to a competitive struggle to get ahead financially or routinely.
The term is ...
between competing parents to one-up others in terms of whom might be artificially deemed the best mother according to some external sources such as fans, followers, or the public generally. Author Sara Petersen in ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' said:
Viewing beautifully shot and lit photos of a momfluencer's bespoke laundry room in her Nantucket mansion through the informed lens of entertainment can be fun and soothing. But we can't all afford Nantucket mansions, and the more we believe (or fool ourselves into believing) that aspirational wicker hampers can make our experiences of motherhood any less frustrating, exhausting, or confounding, the less mental space we have to focus on the broken systems and institutions making motherhood so hard for so many of us.
Petersen stated in an interview with '' Vox'' regarding a book on the subject from 2023 called ''Momfluenced'' that, "The momfluencer, obviously, is not a real person. She's a construct, created by real mothers in the mid-aughts, in concert with tech companies and consumer brands, as a way of making a living on social media." Petersen also criticized momfluencers, or "momfluencer culture", for being predominantly white, and upper middle class. She also criticizes the image put forth by some so called momfluencer women as airing a generally misleading lifestyle on social media in terms of affordability. An example includes renting an expensive car and taking pictures of the vehicle while on a holiday, and then pretending that the vehicle is not rented, but is owned. Petersen's book also was reviewed by ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' in 2023 wherein Petersen said that momfluencer culture included themes of, "race, class,
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
,
consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...
, domesticity, ideals for femininity. There was a lot there."
See also
*
Mommyblogs
Mommyblogs is a term reserved for blogs authored by women that are writing about family and motherhood, a subset of List of family-and-homemaking blogs, blogs about family-and-homemaking. These accounts of family and motherhood are sometimes anonym ...