Blog Before You Talk

In real life Aanya and Inayat are still grappling with the intricacies of baby talk but in cyberspace,their Twitter and Facebook accounts are voluminous. Their cyberactive parents lost no time in opening the children’s accounts and updating these with information on every move,smile and burp. A study conducted by the US-based internet security firm AVG last year reveals that 5 per cent of babies under two-years have social media profiles,while 7 per cent have an email address.

“I opened Aanya’s account two months ago,” says Bhawna Talwar,28,Aanya’s mother. “With our hectic modern lifestyle,a lot of our friends and family can’t visit regularly,but they still want to be a part of Aanya’s growing up. Through Facebook,they are updated about Aanya’s life and adventures.”

Mumbai-based Aastha Jhunjhunwala,18,agrees. “My two-year-old cousin,Siddha Singhania has his own profile on Facebook which was created by his mother when he was one-year-old. Though Siddha has no idea about social networking,his pictures and updates keep us all glued,” she says.

Even before Inayat came along,Kaur had registered a website for Inayat’s elder sister,Nehmat (www.nehmat.com) and opened a Facebook account for her. The website contains a first person account of three-year-old Nehmat’s milestones — vaccinations,first steps,first words,sleep timings,teething troubles,swimming and first foreign trip. Kaur has also posted a number of photos of Nehmat — in a funny hair style,in stylish dresses and wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket. “A number of our relatives and friends are abroad and,through the websites and tweets,they can map the growth of Nehmat and Inayat. It also brings the family closer,distance doesn’t matter anymore,” adds Kaur.

Jack Abhishek Iyer,born on April 12,2009,in Pennsaylvania,USA,has little idea how famous he is online. His parents,Gautam Iyer and Jenne,began a blog titled Baby Jack’s Blog just three days after he was born. They posted his birth pictures and wrote about his homecoming from the hospital. And two years later,the parents provide updates on how he is learning to read three-lettered words like cat and dog and how he is quite brainy when it comes to counting numbers on his tiny fingers,apart from posting photos of him playing outside the house.

Gurgaon-based home-maker,Aditi Singh,was more keen to bag a user name for her daughter. So,one of the first things she did after her daughter was born was create an email account for the baby. “I wanted to retain that particular user name till she grows up. We have never used that email ID till now but I am happy to know that the right ID is safe,” says Singh.

Kaur,however,is pleased that she has a “permanent record of the girls”. “Social networking websites offer a great way of chronicling their growing up years,” she says.

Inputs by Srishti Sharma and Vrishali Saraogi