Both Hadley and Willow have “momfluencer” moms who share their lives for all the online world to see. But now they have to help each other figure out how to manage life offline.
Both Hadley and Willow have “momfluencer” moms who share their lives for all the online world to see. But now they have to help each other figure out how to manage life offline.
Everybody has some really embarrassing moments in their lives. You know, those instances when you blurt out something dumb in front of a crowd or when your too-loose jeans are accidentally tugged down around your knees.
Most people tumble into those situations and then back out as quickly as possible, doing everything they can to forget about them. Forever!
For 12-year-old Hadley, however, that completely embarrassing moment (and others like it) seems destined to plague her for all time. You see, Hadley’s mom, Phoebe of PhoebeAndJay YouTube and TikTok fame, is a “momfluencer.”
Phoebe makes her well-sponsored living joking about all the funny, embarrassing, awkward and dumb things in the world of parenting. Translation: She records and quips about all the hilarious things that Hadley and her siblings do.
So that truly horrible potty incident featuring Hadley when she was, like, two-and-a-half years old, lives on in infamy. That and about a gazillion other moments that you wouldn’t want anyone in your middle school catching wind of.
Things are pretty much the same for 12-year-old Willow. Her mom may be a bit more positive, showcasing all the picture-perfect bits of motherhood on her momfluencing channels. But it can still be a headache. Just having professional lighting set-ups in every room of the house and performing on cue is a major strain.
The truth is, both girls are so over this online sharing thing. And when they accidentally meet at a family-focused “Women in Content” conference, they quickly connect over their common woes. In fact, they instantly become fast friends.
Willow even shares that she’s created her own private Instagram account depicting all the ways that her mom’s MoonbeamsandMarigolds postings are complete fiction. She’s even posted secret recordings of herself and her adorable younger brother performing like trained seals.
Hadley loves the idea so much that Willow gives her the Insta password and invites her to contribute her own, similar stories. Hadley joyfully jumps at the offer. They thereafter mutually contribute to the “We Are Not Content” account.
Is that content or content you ask? Both!
Perhaps this truth-dealing partnership will be therapeutic. Maybe these new friends will be able to tell each other all the things they could never share with anyone else.
I mean, if even a hint of this leaked to the public it would completely ruin both their mothers’ now lucrative careers.
Can you imagine how terrible that would be?
None.
The main worldview critiqued in this story has to do with how social media has affected family relationships. Social media can, of course, help people communicate with each other. It can also potentially help influencers make a good sum of money, if someone works hard enough.
But the book also asks readers to consider the cost, too. Ultimately, So Over Sharing suggests that an overabundance of online sharing can hurt individuals, divide families and potentially lead to lying and greed. In other words, being consumed by social media can amplify some of our negative human traits if we let it.
Both of the momfluencers at the core of the story love their kids. But they put that loving connection aside sometimes in favor of good “content” for their reels, podcasts and blogs. In the process, we se how they inadvertently objectify other family members.
For example, the momfluencers stage activities, set up equipment for great shots and end up throwing their kids’ privacy concerns out the window. The younger kids are even programmed, in essence, to become little actors who know how to “play” their roles and reactions for an audience’s view.
So Over Sharing takes those instances to demonstrate how influencers can be swayed more by performance, sponsor approval and a monetary focus than by honest interactions and parental concerns. And those less-than-positive choices tend to bleed over to the girls’ dads as well.
In that light, Hadley, Willow and others make statements about the double standards and inconsistencies involved in an influencer’s social media posts. Someone notes, for instance: “Your mom posts on social media about how it’s unhealthy to be on social media.”
Hadley eventually has to lie about who her mother is in an effort to maintain friendships and avoid being embarrassed by her mom’s posted videos of her. Her lies compound and expand from there. And Willow becomes increasingly frustrated that her parents are so consumed with the family’s online content but not so concerned or invested in her real life.
The story’s events eventually bring much of this frustration and angst out in the open. After that, apologies are made, and the moms and dads make solid efforts to show their kids their love. Hadley and her dad are particularly close throughout the story. And that strong connection helps the young girl work through several worrisome problems.
Some school officials eventually believe that there may be some abuse of the children in Hadley’s family. So Child Protection Services show up at her front door. Elsewhere, Hadley meets with an in-school psychologist, who gives her solid suggestions on how to deal with pressures at home and bullies at school.
Someone exclaims Jesus’ name in a tense moment. It’s also reported that several different people “curse.” But we’re never told what they say. Hadley notes that an adult green room at a podcaster’s conference offered wine and snacks.
During a boxing demonstration, Willow is accidentally hit in the face, giving her a black eye.
A fire alarm is set off at Hadley’s house and her mother runs out dressed only in a towel. She then starts taking towel-clad selfies with the arriving firemen for her blog. We’re told that an eighth-grade girl sent “sexy snaps” of herself to a boyfriend.
A gay man mentions his husband. And a middle school teacher is addressed as a nongendered “they/them.” Someone mentions that a cousin had an Instagram account and wore dance outfits that some men made “gross comments” about.
Have you ever had someone post something embarrassing about you online or spread rumors about you at school? How should you deal with something like that? Should you talk to an adult you trust, and who would you say is that trusted adult in your life?
What do you think this book says about the potential problems with posting things about people online? Do you think either of the girls’ moms wanted to hurt their daughters? Why did they post personal things about their children on social media? What do you think about the choices they made?
What is this book saying about being honest and expressing your feelings to your parents?
Take a look at Ephesians 4:29 and Ephesians 6:4. How do you think those passages of Scripture relate to Hadley’s and Willow’s story?
So Over Sharing takes time to look at social media from different perspectives. It takes readers into the lives of two girls struggling with the negative impacts of people over-sharing online.
The story promotes open family conversations, honesty, good friendships and the advantages of stepping back from too much time online.
Parents will want to take note of a bit of language here, as well as passing references to contemporary social mores regarding sexuality and gender.
You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected].
Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not necessarily their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
Our weekly newsletter will keep you in the loop on the biggest things happening in entertainment and technology. Sign up today, and we’ll send you a chapter from the new Plugged In book, Becoming a Screen-Savvy Family, that focuses on how to implement a “screentime reset” in your family!
