Phoebe Bock
Mothers have historically taken on an invisible domestic role but are now breaking out of the private sphere at greater levels. Mommy blogs present the mother’s role in everyday life to the public, aspire to help other mothers, and work to destigmatize the domestic sphere. Kara van
Cleaf’s “Our mothers have always been machines: The conflation of media and motherhood”
investigates blog and social media posts that emulates the hard work of motherhood. According to Scarborough, a marketing research firm, a mommy blogger is a woman with “at least one
child in their household [who has] read or contributed to a blog in the past 30 days.” In 2017, mommy bloggers totaled 23 million women, which represents about 14 percent of all American mothers. In her research describing the “momification of the internet,” Cleaf seeks to define the
relationship between media and motherhood.
Online networks facilitate connection and social ties which allow in-person groups to expand. In “Beyond digital dualism: Modeling digital community,” Alexia Maddox examines the
emergence of online and offline spaces and the blending of community ties. Drawing on Nathan
Jurgenson’s critique of digital dualism, Maddox argues that online and offline spaces have
merged. This new online sphere has increased desires to maintain and form connections, causing the online self to adopt a manufactured persona.
Growing networks utilize self-preservation in the transition from offline to online spaces. Participation in digital platforms enables individuals to manipulate authenticity by curating their online image to determine how others perceive them. While neither Cleaf nor Maddox relate their findings to Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical theory of self and everyday life, they draw on
his claims of the frontstage self as a performance and the backstage self as the private staging area. This is evident in Cleaf’s description of mothers blogging about parenting to elevate the domestic role and the labor of mothers. Many problems prevent mothers from engaging in “ordinal devotions,” the perpetual attentiveness to the child is showcased on mommy blogs, and hinder authenticity by portraying these mothers as supermoms. Additionally, as Maddox observes, the formation of network communities and the presentation of false authenticity bars individuals who do not conform to this idealized image. The online community helps motherhood diverge from the domestic sphere, yet it continues to limit participation in and access to this new public forum. Cleaf’s and Maddox’s articles illuminate exclusion from engagement in online networks because although they allow for increased accessibility to community spaces through the merging of the public and private realms, the manufactured lifestyles of mommy bloggers fail to accurately capture the diverse experiences of motherhood.
Online, individuals manage a public persona and manufactured authenticity to seek acceptance. Cleaf’s and Maddox’s articles in Digital Sociologies discuss the integration of digital
communities in daily life. Cleaf highlights the theory of attunement, the devotional work of motherhood which brings harmony to the child’s life and appears in both mothering and blogging. In engaging in online communities, mothers publicize their offline labor and display their roles to gain connection and support. Maddox specifically discusses the high number of women who engage in online communities. Despite the connectedness of women online, Cleaf observes that mommy blogs capture only “fleeting moments” of motherhood and project a near perfect image as part of their curated self; therefore, posts that claim authenticity do not account for bloggers altering the offline self. The traditionally private nature of motherhood has been put on display by digital technologies. While the articles help connect digital networks and
motherhood and critique the accessibility of this lifestyle, they fail to discuss the manufactured authenticity of showcasing the private life online.
The networked connection available on mommy blogs and digital networks allows for more expansive connections. As elements of the private sphere such as daily life and domesticity are presented online, the digital community expands beyond the local area and can reach the global community. Maddox argues that the growth of social networks has broken down separate public and private spaces as the presentation of the private self has increased connectedness.
Goffman’s theory of context collapse highlights the merging of the public and private and
emphasizes the lack of separation between the two, similar to the blending of the online and offline self. However, Clef’s and Maddox’s descriptions of the merging spheres do not address the increase in manufactured authenticity and the effect of bloggers’ constructed image of their public selves. The implications of such shortcomings could misrepresent the combined public and private space created online as the bloggers are presenting a curated presentation of themselves in the public sphere, leaving no margin to parse out the real from the manufactured authenticity. Additionally, Cleaf does not discuss the persisting gender bias online which continues to ridicule women and mothers. Both Cleaf and Maddox avoid a discussion of the negative components of digital communities and its potential ramifications; the presentation of the private self online is encouraged without acknowledging the dangers of conflating public and private spaces. Furthermore, neither article examines the work of the algorithm in determining audiences and building communities as individuals engaging in online forums will most likely see information they agree with.
In examining these articles, I was fascinated by the merging of public and private which allows for the demonstration of private life and false authenticity online. This authenticity promotes an idealized picture of motherhood which most cannot achieve. Online platforms attempt to make communities more accessible by providing a broader network of support, yet the merging of public and private spheres ultimately restricts this freedom to engage in networked groups.
References Cleaf, Kara van. 2017. “Our Mothers Have Always Been