We've all got friends who might overshare a little when it comes to putting their personal lives on Facebook, and the phenomenon can be particularly noticeable with new parents, who sometimes can't seem to stop themselves from posting baby updates, pics, videos, and more pics.
說到在臉書上曬個人生活，我們也許都有一些分享過度的朋友，對新父母來說這一現象尤為明顯，他們有時似乎抑制不住自己發寶寶的新動態、照片、視頻，以及更多的照片。

Now a new study looks at the psychological motivations that can influence some new mothers to post so much on social media, and the findings suggest that they could be oversharing in less-than-healthy ways.
現在，一項新研究調查了可能會影響一些新媽媽在社交媒體過度曬娃的心理動機，結果表明過度分享可能并不是健康的方式。

"If a mother is posting on Facebook to get affirmation that she's doing a good job and doesn't get all the 'likes' and positive comments she expects, that could be a problem. She may end up feeling worse," said psychologist Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan from Ohio State University.
“如果一位媽媽在臉書上曬娃是為了得到認可，肯定自己是個好媽媽，但是收到的贊和肯定的評論與她所期待的有差距，就可能成為問題。最后她也許感覺更糟，”俄亥俄州立大學心理學家莎拉?紹珀-莎利文說道。

Schoppe-Sullivan and her team tracked 127 mothers in Ohio from when they were pregnant through to after their babies were born. The women were asked questions during the third trimester of their pregnancy about how much they believed society expected them to be perfect parent.
紹珀-莎利文和她的團隊跟蹤調查了俄亥俄州的127位母親，從懷孕期間一直到孩子出生。這些女子在妊娠晚期（后三個月）回答了一些問題，關于她們在多大程度上相信社會對她們成為完美母親有所期待。

After the birth, they were tested on how strongly they identified with their role as mothers, rating how much they agreed with statements such as: "I know people make judgments about how good of a partner/mother I am based on how well cared for my house and family are."
生產之后，她們接受了關于母親身份認同感強度的測試，根據認可程度給一些語句打分，比如“我知道人們會根據我對家庭的照顧情況判斷我是不是一個好妻子或好母親?！?/p>

The participants' use of Facebook was also monitored after the babies were born, including the frequency of activity and how often they uploaded photos of their babies, plus recording the mothers' emotional responses to their Facebook friends' comments and likes (or lack thereof).
孩子出生后，媽媽們的臉書使用情況也被追蹤了，包括使用頻率和上傳孩子照片的頻率，還有媽媽們對臉書上朋友們的評論和贊（或沒有贊）的情緒反應。

The researchers found that those women who believed society had greater expectations of them as mothers – and who identified strongly with their motherhood role – were highly sensitive to feedback on their social media posts.
研究者發現，那些認為社會對她們有較高期待的和對母親身份認同感較高的媽媽們對社交媒體的反饋高度敏感。

"These mothers paid close attention to the comments they got when they posted pictures of their baby," said one of the team, Jill Yavorsky. "They felt validated when they got a lot of likes and comments, but they were also more likely to feel bad and disappointed when the reaction wasn't what they had hoped."
“這些母親們密切關注著曬出孩子照片后收到的評論，”團隊成員之一吉爾?亞沃爾斯基說?！爱斔齻兪盏皆S多贊和評論的時候就會感覺受到了肯定，但是如果反響并不像自己希望的那樣，她們就更有可能感覺糟糕和失望?！?/p>

Another of the study's findings showed how incredibly pervasive the use of Facebook is when it comes to mothers sharing news and images of their babies. A stunning 98 percent of mothers in the study uploaded photos of their infant to the site, and 80 percent of these mums had replaced their personal profile photo with a picture of their baby.
此研究的另外一個結果顯示，媽媽們在臉書上曬孩子動態和照片的行為極為普遍。研究中多達98%的母親上傳過寶寶的照片，80%的母親把自己的頭像換成了孩子的照片，比例之高令人瞠目。

"What these mothers are saying is that my child is central to my identity, at least right now," said Schoppe-Sullivan. "That's really telling."
“這些母親所要表達的是，我的孩子是我身份的中心，起碼現在是，”紹珀-沙利文說。“這真的非常明顯。”

Separate research has suggested the average US parent posts almost 1,000 photos of their child online before the child turns five years old.
另外一項研究曾表明，美國父母在孩子五歲之前平均會在網上曬近1000張照片。

These figures might not shock regular Facebook users who've become used to seeing baby photos and updates populating their newsfeed, but think about it – 1,000 photos. Of course, the researchers from Ohio State acknowledge that their small sample of 127 women from Ohio were mostly highly educated women from dual-career couples, so their results certainly aren't representative of new mothers from other walks of life.
這些數字也許并不會讓經常使用臉書的用戶感到詫異，他們已經習慣了看嬰兒照片和布滿信息流的新動態，但是你想一想——1000張照片啊。當然，俄亥俄州的研究員承認127個俄亥俄女性的樣本比較小，她們大多數受教育程度比較高，夫妻都有工作，因此他們的研究結果肯定不能代表其它階層和地域的新媽媽們。

But the results could be a timely reminder that while social media can be a valuable way of keeping in touch with friends and family, people should be wary of letting it dictate how they feel about their lives, especially when it comes to something as important as parenting your children.
但是，這一研究結果可能及時提醒了人們，雖然社交媒體是聯系親友的寶貴方式，但是要警惕不要讓它主宰我們對生活的感受，尤其是養育孩子這么重要的事情。

"It's great to share stories and pictures of your baby, but relying on Facebook to feel good about your parenting may be risky," said Schoppe-Sullivan.
“分享寶寶的故事和照片很好，但是從臉書中尋求育兒的良好感受可能有風險，”紹珀-沙利文說。

In addition to negatively affecting how new mothers may feel about themselves, uploading images of your children to social media – despite its popularity – is a topic of some controversy.
除了對新媽媽的自我感覺有消極影響之外，上傳自己孩子的照片到社交媒體盡管很流行，但卻是個有點爭議的話題。

Posting images of your children on the internet without their consent might be intended as a good-natured act, but it could also be considered unfair, especially as children grow up.
沒經過孩子允許就在網上發他們的照片，媽媽們可能會覺得她們的動機是好的，但孩子們可能會認為這不公平，尤其是當他們長大以后。

In France, authorities have gone as far as to warn parents they could face up to a year in prison and a fine of €45,000 (US$50,200) for publicising details of their children's lives on social media without their consent.
在法國，有關部門甚至警告父母們，不經孩子同意就在社交媒體上宣揚他們的生活細節，將面臨長達一年的監禁和4.5萬歐元（5.02萬美元）的罰款。

Aside from how it makes young people feel as they grow up – with widely circulated and perhaps less-than-flattering images of them being shared online without their permission – there's also the threat of losing personal anonymity as things like facial recognition technology and data-mining businesses become more powerful and sophisticated.
除了會影響孩子們長大后的感受——不經孩子允許就在網上分享他們不太好看的照片而且還被廣泛傳播——隨著臉部識別技術和數據挖掘公司變得更強大更高端，曬娃的行為還威脅到孩子的匿名身份。

So sharing cute photos of your little one growing up might seem perfectly fine now, but by disseminating that information across the web, you might be unilaterally surrendering information about your child that can't be regained. Post responsibly, people!
所以，盡管分享小寶寶成長過程中的可愛照片現在看來也許沒問題，但是在網上傳播有可能是單方面泄露孩子信息的行為，一旦泄露就無可挽回。人們啊，發貼時負點責任吧！

Vocabulary

trimester: 三個月
telling: 顯露真相的，顯著的
walks of life: 各界，各行各業
flattering: 討人喜歡的
surrender: 交出；投降

英文來源：sciencealert
譯者：實習生孫美真
審校&編輯：丹妮