Mommy blogger Katie Bower is good at what she does. She has over 53,000 followers on Instagram, tons of commenters, and a successful blog. She regularly posts photos of herself, her five children, and her husband Jeremy.
But a recent post on Katie's Instagram reveals that there's a dark side to this whole mommy blogger craze.
This week, Katie posted a photo in honor of her son's 6th birthday along with a lengthy caption. At first, the Georgia woman's words were like any loving mom's birthday wishes. But then things went left.
Katie wrote that, out of her five kids, this particular son has always gotten the least likes and comments on Instagram.
"Instagram never liked my Munchkin, and it killed me inside," she wrote in the since-deleted post, according to BuzzFeed News. "I want to believe that it wasn't him… that it was on me. My insufficiency caused this statistical deficit because obviously my Munch should get all the love, and squinty eyes are totally adorable."
She went on to explain that she's worried about how this will affect her son's self-esteem when he sees "the numbers."
Prominent bloggers like 35-year-old Katie can be an important resource for fellow moms — they make mothering feel less lonely. But this post reveals the dark side of social media. Is it really all about the likes – even when it's your own child?!
Katie's comments went viral on Twitter, where people were fascinated, disturbed, and outraged by her words.
Katie is an Instagram mommy blogger with over 53,000 followers. She has five children.
Earlier this week, Katie's second son turned 6. She posted an emotional caption on Instagram to mark the occasion, BuzzFeed News reports.
She began with all the parts of her son that she's grateful for. (Her son's name has been redacted here for his privacy.)
“Thankful for [redacted] today. My [redacted] was just the best baby….cuddly and easy…a hard toddler…always on the move and slow to talk which led to lots of crying….and one of the most helpful and sweet hearted little boys. He is quiet except when he’s not….overflowing with unique personality. He hates the car and is a complete homebody. He loves art and sports and is quick with a joke. He loves organizing and quality time and says one day he is gonna be a daddy to one hundred babies And when he hugs and kisses you, you believe it. ❤️❤️❤️.”
But after that, the caption took a strange turn.
Katie revealed that, out of all her kids, this particular child consistently gets the least likes and comments on Instagram — and it bothers her.
“Guys I am gonna be perfectly honest… Instagram never liked my Munchkin and it killed me inside. His photos never got as many likes. Never got comments. From a statistical point of view, he wasn’t as popular with everyone out there. Maybe part of that was the pictures just never hit the algorithm right. Part might be because he was ‘the baby’ for a very short amount of time…And people like babies. I say all that because I want to believe that it wasn’t him…that it was on me. My insufficiency caused this statistical deficit because obviously my Munch should get ALL the love and squinty eyes are totally adorable.”
Next, Katie asked her followers to give her "Munchkin" plenty of "likes" for his birthday.
“So can we do this right? Because I truly KNOW that my Munch deserves alllllll the likes…whether or not a stranger gives it to them. And on his sixth birthday – I am thankful that I know that…that no matter what other people think of me or my kids or my marriage or my house or my life or my everything…that they are 1000000000x better in real life than any tiny little picture could hold.”
She ended with a short disclaimer that she doesn’t treat her children differently based on the number of likes they get but is worried about how her son will react when he “sees the numbers” one day.
BuzzFeed News reporter Stephanie McNeal shared screenshots of the entire caption on Twitter, where it quickly went viral — and not in a good way.
People heavily criticized Katie's parenting skills, while others mocked the way she seemingly used her son to beg for more likes on this photo.
Even Chrissy Teigen, one of the most famously outspoken celebrity moms in the world, chimed in to disapprove!
The situation had a lot of people completely rethinking their own relationship to social media.
"This is why I've gone back and forth about a blog with my son," another mom wrote. "I don't want to miss out on my actual time with him."
But, to be fair, not everyone blames social media. Some commenters pointed out that narcissistic and/or critical parents have existed long before Instagram was a thing.
In response to the massive backlash, Katie posted a tearful follow-up in an Instagram story.
She explained that it was "personal growth" for her to have the epiphany that her son's number of likes is not important.
"I had to learn that the likes do not reflect much to me," she said. "That I had to choose that, because I work with brands that tell you the opposite."
Later, Katie archived the birthday post so it's no longer visible to the public.
In a later Instagram story, she said she had to take down the post because the "drama was out of hand" but said she will read the birthday wishes to her son.
"Unfortunately, this is sometimes the way it goes with social media if you choose to be vulnerable and show something that isn't perfect about yourself," she explained.
Sadly, this isn't the first time Katie has found herself under fire. She went viral just two months ago when she confessed that when she was a college student, she "had no idea what the deal was with 9/11 when it happened."
"I was a stupid airhead at the time that didn't realize that people were actually in the buildings," Katie wrote. "It didn't hit me until a year later that so many people died."
(Almost 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks.)
Two days ago, Katie posted another birthday dedication to her son, featuring a photo of him surrounded by Star Wars balloons.
The caption is brief: "Can not believe it ." (She turned the comments off.)
What do you think of Katie's misguided post and the accompanying backlash?
