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I post lots of pictures on here and never really pay attention to what’s in “the background”. I totally look at the background of other people’s pictures, but never really pay attention to what is happening in my own. Maybe because I know what is going on in my house, but I don’t know what is happening in other people’s houses?
I think the “background” tells way more than the “posed” part of the picture. That blogger says they are neat? Or that they only shop for clothes at Walmart because it’s dumb to buy expensive clothes? Or say they never buy their kids plastic toys? Or talk about how McDonald’s is poison and that they’d never feed it to their kids? Ha. The background of the picture tells the story! I’m not dumb, I know they don’t sell North Face at Walmart. Nor can you get Happy Meal toys at Whole Foods.
As bloggers we only post the things we want to share online. Do I post every single thing that happens at my house? Heck no. I would never. But I also I don’t pretend to be someone I am not, so I am not worried about people seeing what’s in the background of my pictures. I mean, I don’t proclaim to be some amazing housekeeper or say that I only feed my kids organic foods because umm, that’s just not true.
But I also need to make sure there isn’t anything I wouldn’t want, umm, creepy people to see either. I mean, I would never intentionally post any potty training pictures(*), bathtub pictures(*), “big boy underw*ar” pictures(*), my address, etc,. on here, so I need to be sure nothing insane like this is going on in the background of my pictures. I certainly don’t want to share anything unintentionally, you know what I mean?
So do you ever look in the background of people’s pictures? Ever see anything interesting? I can’t say I’ve learned anything earth shattering, if you pay attention, I’m sure you’ll see something interesting. But if you see something that shouldn’t be shared (a phone number, an address, etc.) make sure to let that blogger know! No one wants “too much” out there. Or do they?
(*) These posts on other people’s blogs really freak me out. Sure they are cute and everything, but you gotta be careful what you post because not everyone on the internet looks at a picture and is all, oh, that’s cute. Some people are creepy and can turn an innocent picture into something not to innocent with a quick internet search!
Wow I guess I’ve never really thought about it. I do know that I sometimes try to make sure I take a picture where there isn’t alot of clutter in the background but thats more so the item stands out. My friends that know me and have been to my house know that my kids have tons of toys and they are everywhere. LOL being in the background of my picture is not going to be a shock for them. I also try to make sure address and phone and stuff isn’t out there and I have told a friend when hers was showing. She was very grateful.
I’m going to have to pay more attention to yours now. 🙂 I wonder what all goodies I can see. 😉
I’ve always found the background of pictures to be fascinating, and not just on blogs. Like, think of pics you take in public places of your kids, and some random stranger is in the background. And then I wonder how many pics there are in which I’M the random stranger in the background.
I know bloggers only show a portion of the life and I take most of it with a grain of salt. The only time I get annoyed (and start to look at the background, so to speak) is when they get holier than thou. Or when they post stuff that’s wildly contridictory. Like one week they post, “Oh, we’re so poor! Your heart should bleed for my children!” and then the next week, “Hey, look at my spiffy new camera!” (I’m thinking of Mckmama here.)
Wow Jen, this is a huge wake up call post for me!! Thank you so much for writing it and making us all aware. I often check other people’s backgrounds in pics (I’m nosey like that!) but I don’t think of my own images… Let me know if you catch anything in my pics 🙂
x
ha! I love looking at the background stuff! I love seeing if people have crap laying out everywhere {like I do some days} or if they have a really cool wall art or something like that, nothing creepy! As for the nakie butt pics, I’m guilty but only on Instagram. Does that make it better? No probably not.
It might make it better. Unless you tag it!