Maternal socialization and social media: The case of Instagram

This study attemps to analyze the contributions of social media to the motherhood socialization. For this purpose, mother's Instagram sharings were examined. 25 Instagram users were choosen which have a large number of followers and are known by the internet community. The selected users' sharings were observed through participant observation. Since the perception of motherhood in Instagram sharings and comments are based on basic ideas of modernity, the characteristics which make modern society different from traditional society were scrutinized. The ideas of modern family, childhood and parenting which are closely associated with motherhood, were also examined in terms of historical and sociological analysis. Relationships of these concepts with each other and modernity were attempted to be clarified. Motherhood's close contact with ideas of modern society and individual is not forgetten. The concepts of identity, self and social role, defined in a symbolic interactionist framework, were used to explain the process of socialization and maternal socialization. Social media, the field we chose to understand the perception of modern maternity and maternity socialization, was also scrutinized in order to understand its unique characteristics. As a result of these examinations, it is understood that social media is a effective agent on mothers's self-conception and self-acceptance, acquiriment of group identity, gaining needed practical and psychological support, internalization and redefination of expectations and ideals and satisfaction of some social and individual needs. Social media is one of the fields where motherhood socialization is experienced. So, thanks to its free, dynamic and open structure, social media is used by mothers to change the way society perceives their motherhood and by this means they also have the opportunity to reject and redefine certain norms and expectations about motherhood.