This Womans Letter About What Happened on Social Media After Stillbirth Is Heartbreaking

This Womans Letter About What Happened on Social Media After Stillbirth Is Heartbreaking Gillian Brockells open letter to tech companies makes an oft-neglected point about digital ads that use algorithms to target pregnant women.In the weeks following the birth of her leiseborn son in November, she was relentlessly reminded of the baby she was preparing to have but didnt.Social media advertisements and digital ads across other ansprechbar sites kept popping up to promote pregnancy and new-parent products.In an open letter to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, she explained her 30-week journey that culminated in giving birth to her stillborn baby.While she and her husband were already grieving during that time, she was forced to see ads for Pea in the Pod, Motherhood Maternity and Etsy decor shed planned for the babys nursery. To make it worse, when she would cancel the ads, shed be asked why, and shed have to select the its not relevant to me response which was even more heartbreaking .Let me tell you what social media is like when you finally come home from the hospital with the emptiest arms in the world, after youve spent days sobbing in bed, and pick up your phone for a couple minutes of distraction before the next wail, she wrote. Its exactly, crushingly, the same as it was when your baby was still alive.Source TwitterBrockell says she believes that using Instagram hashtags like babybump or clicking once or twice on maternity-wear ads on Facebook during the first few months of her pregnancy probably triggered the targeted ads.But didnt you also see me googling, Is this Braxton Hicks? and baby not moving? she asked. Did you not see the three days of silence, uncommon for a high-frequency user like me? And then the announcement with keywords like heartbroken and problem and stillborn and the 200 teardrop emoticons from my friends?Surely, if tech companies are tracking online users pregnancy searches up until giving birth, they can be tracking online searches i n the days thereafter.It decides youve given birth, assumes a happy result, and deluges you with ads for the best nursing bras (I have cabbage leaves only breasts because that is the best medical science has to offer turn your milk off), tricks to get the baby to sleep through the night (I would give anything to hear him cry at all), and the best strollers to grow with your baby (mine will forever be 4 pounds, 1 ounce).Source TwitterBrockells request is heartbreakingly true If tech companies are going to be using their powers to target pregnant women, they should take the step to make sure that the pregnancy was happy and healthy, too.If youre smart enough to realize that Im pregnant, that Ive given birth, then surely youre smart enough to realize that my baby died, and can advertise to me accordingly, or maybe, just maybe, not at all, she wrote.--AnnaMarie Houlis is a feminist, a freelance journalist and an adventure aficionado with an affinity for impulsive solo travel. She spends her days writing about womens empowerment from around the world. You can follow her work on her blog, HerReport.org, and follow her journeys on Instagram her_report,Twitterherreportand Facebook.