A quick note on privacy

Longtime readers know that I’m a chronic oversharer and usually very open about the details of my life. Since becoming a parent, I’ve spent a lot of time (well, what time I have!) mulling over that tendency and wondering how to balance my instinct for honesty with the very real dangers of sharing too much personal information online.

From here on, I’ll be referring to my daughter as Owl (because it’s one of her current favorite words and I rather like it myself); I’ve also edited previous entries to replace her name with this pseudonym. I’ve also changed some other mentions, to obscure location and family members’ names, though probably those edits won’t be noticeable to anyone else (I’m only remarking on it here to help remind myself that I want to keep doing this in future).

Since Owl turned 1, I’ve mostly stopped sharing full-face photos of her here and on Instagram. This is partly for security but also to respect her privacy; I figure at some point in her life she will not want her photo shared widely and publicly, and rather than try to determine that turning point when it happens, it’s better to just act pre-emptively. In addition, I recently made my Instagram private as well, which I regret, but it seems most prudent since I post so many photos from a close radius to where we live.

If you’re a friend and/or longtime reader and already know Owl’s name and where we live, please be mindful when commenting.

I know it’s statistically unlikely that our online information will be used against us, but parenthood is already such a thicket of worst-case scenarios. I don’t believe in building walls, but it’s not that much trouble to put up a curtain. We might as well.