I don't know if this even counts as a confession, really. It’s more like… a whisper I keep pushing down. I’m a mum now, to a little kid, a toddler. And I spend a lot of time, probably too much time, posting pictures of her online. Like, big milestones, you know? First steps, that time she painted her face with yogurt, the whole nine. I trained as an illustrator, before, and I always thought I’d be painting canvases, not... curating an Instagram grid of my kid’s life. It feels weird to say it out loud, or even type it here, but I just… I need my aunt in Iowa to see that my kid is cute. Or my cousin in Australia. People I barely talk to, never see. And for some reason, their likes, their little heart emojis, it feels like I’m doing something right. Like I’m not totally messing up this whole mum thing. The thing is, I’m kinda obsessed with privacy. Like, hardcore. I barely post pictures of myself, never share my location, try to be really careful about what I put out there. And then I turn around and I’m putting my kid, this tiny human who has no say in it, all over social media. Her chubby little cheeks, her first time on a swing. It feels… hypocritical? I don't know. My husband, he’s a software engineer, really techy, he’s like, “Are you sure about this? Think about her digital footprint.” And I just brush him off. I say it’s for family, to keep everyone updated. But really, it’s for me. It’s for that little hit of dopamine when someone I haven’t spoken to in five years comments, “OMG she’s so big!” It’s pathetic, right? I tell myself I’ll stop, that I’ll delete everything eventually, that I’ll lock down her profile when she’s older. But then she does something adorable, and my fingers just… they want to share it. I want people to SEE her. Maybe it’s because my own art never really took off, never got that recognition. So now it’s like, here’s my masterpiece. My little girl. And I’m putting her on display for strangers. And sometimes, late at night, when she’s finally asleep and the house is quiet, I feel this weird hollow ache in my chest. Like I’m selling off little pieces of her, or something. Just for a few likes. It's a trade-off, I guess. I just don't know if it's a good one.