Mums, are you guilty of checking Facebook at 4 am, perhaps when you’re breastfeeding your little one? Or do you quickly swipe your phone as soon as you wake up, or when you’re taking a break from kiddie duties to see what your Facebook friends have been up to?
If your answer is ‘yes’, know that you are not alone.
Facebook’s research arm Facebook IQ, along with Ipsos MediaCT and Sound Research, conducted a global study of parents between the ages of 25 and 65 with infants, toddlers, and teenagers. This was in order to get a better understanding of their mobile phone habits.
Researchers also analysed data from Facebook and Instagram in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, and Spain. Feedback was collected from 8,300 parents, says a Yahoo News report.
Parents post the most
The study findings were not too surprising given that many of our Facebook newsfeeds are full of pictures of families and kids. In other words: “parenting has become a digitally shared experience.”
Parents outdid non-parents across the world in sharing photos, status updates and videos of their kids and family on Facebook.
To be precise, mums and dads in the study “post 2.3 times more photos, 2.9 times more videos, and 1.8 times more status updates than average users.”
And if you are one of these parents and a tad worried that your friends are finding those pictures of your kids annoying, you can stop worrying now.
The study revealed that “new parents’ posts about their babies receive 37 percent more interactions from relatives and 47 percent more from friends.”
Another interesting discovery was that new parents were more likely to check out Facebook quite early in the morning, from as early as 4 am and peaking at 7 am, by which time over 50 percent of parents had checked Facebook via a mobile device.
Keep posting and sharing away, parents. But do keep in mind that the Internet is a large and mostly uncontrollable space, and it’s best to avoid sharing certain pictures of your kids or revealing too much private information for the sake of safety and privacy.
Read this informative article on the 6 pictures of kids you should not be sharing on social media for more.
How many times a day do you check Facebook? Leave a comment below and tell us what you think about the results of the Facebook study.