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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Posting hospital pictures

91 replies

Irish24 · 14/03/2025 18:04

I don’t know if it’s just me but i get fed up or just very irritated at people constantly posting pictures of them in hospital stuff that’s wrong with them etc. I just find it draining. I just feel illnesses are very personal and private unless raising awareness which I get but this isn’t for awareness it just seems attention seeking.
ive got to the stage where I’ve been ignoring it and feeling numb

OP posts:
Gorgeousfeet · 15/03/2025 07:43

HereintheloveofChristIstand · 14/03/2025 18:06

It’s even worse when it’s a drip feed and they don’t say why they are there. Massively attention seeking

Yeah this.

I have recently been very unwell and was in hospital twice . Would not have dreamt of posting anything about it. Not just because I am a hugely private person but I was also very poorly, and doing something like that would have been the last thing on my mind.

Gorgeousfeet · 15/03/2025 07:44

bakebeans · 15/03/2025 07:35

Or when they tag themselves at hospital for people to comment ‘hope you are ok?’ Followed by ‘I’ve messaged you!’

Yes!!!

Wtf is that all about?

Didimum · 15/03/2025 07:46

I’m beginning to not really see the point in getting annoyed at stuff like this/social media behaviour. At the end of the day, people are who they are and they largely always will be – breezing past it would do everyone some good.

user1494050295 · 15/03/2025 07:47

I know someone who posted photos of their two year old dd who had heart surgery. Tubes everywhere. I am not even connected to this person but a mutual person commented so it came up in my feed. Really grim.

storminabuttercup · 15/03/2025 07:58

I’ve noticed a huge rise in people posting about illnesses on FB particularly, I do get that long term health conditions are awful but sometimes there’s just so little context. I’m not talking about people posting updates post operations like ‘surgery went well, I’ll be home in a few days thanks for all the well wishes’ I mean more like the IV drip in the arm ones which I hate seeing or checking into the doctors surgery with ‘back again’
or weirdly looking adding their health condition into a post when it’s totally irrelevant I can’t think of an example now but used to see it a lot in a group I was in

Coffeeishot · 15/03/2025 08:02

I think people can use their SM how they want I also don't think illness Is a private thing, someone posting from hospital are probably looking for a bit of.attention and support,it's not a huge deal really

ThePoshUns · 15/03/2025 08:11

It’s so attention seeking

Agix · 15/03/2025 08:29

I have an old acquaintance who posts "checking in" posts whenever she is at the GPS or the local talk therapy centre. Writing big long posts about how they don't refer you to hospital anymore for severe mental health disorders like hers so the talk therapy café is all she has. She says it's to raise awareness... It's definitely for sympathy.

As someone who actually does attend the hospital for my mental health (and yes, the referral was from the same GP, to CMH, who then referred me to hospital) I do sometimes pettily think of posting my check in at the hospital just to show her up for her bullshit... But then I remember I don't actually want anyone close to me to know the extent of my mental health issues and also behind it all, despite how it seems, I do think I very much like this woman and she's very kind to others. I don't think I'd want to upset and embarrass her really.

Just this one bloody thing she does annoys the shite out of me. I suppose because her "awareness posts" is misinformation...

Irish24 · 15/03/2025 09:01

But when you ask the person are they ok? And they don’t even respond back and have read the message. It’s very frustrating. If you have time to take a picture and post it then you have time to send a quick reply to someone who is concerned. I find it just incredibly toxic and bizarre to take photos of yourself in hospital in a vulnerable state unless you are trying to create awareness about an illness which this isn’t. This person is also in a private group chat with friends who I can’t exactly just remove. I have muted the chat and her sm posts but it’s there when you go into it

OP posts:
Seeingalight · 15/03/2025 09:05

I don't understand it. I've never taken a photo of myself in hospital.

My dd was in hospital for 8 months with a feeding tube and occasionally an oxygen tube, again I didn't even take a photo let alone think to post it on social media.

Irish24 · 15/03/2025 09:07

Seeingalight · 15/03/2025 09:05

I don't understand it. I've never taken a photo of myself in hospital.

My dd was in hospital for 8 months with a feeding tube and occasionally an oxygen tube, again I didn't even take a photo let alone think to post it on social media.

Exactly I just find it very strange. Last thing I would think about doing if I was in hospital looking and feeling like shit is take a picture of myself or a drip feed.

OP posts:
Floatlikeafeather2 · 15/03/2025 09:15

I think it's a bit sad that you let social media affect you to the extent that you spend your time "feeling numb" because of it. If it genuinely has such an extreme effect on your mood, wouldn't it be better not to look at it at all? If you don't want to give someone your attention, don't give it to them. It's not compulsory.

Bubblesgun · 15/03/2025 09:17

Irish24 · 14/03/2025 18:04

I don’t know if it’s just me but i get fed up or just very irritated at people constantly posting pictures of them in hospital stuff that’s wrong with them etc. I just find it draining. I just feel illnesses are very personal and private unless raising awareness which I get but this isn’t for awareness it just seems attention seeking.
ive got to the stage where I’ve been ignoring it and feeling numb

When i was battling breast cancer i went through a storm for 9 months: surgery/reconstruction, chemo then radio. Then I broke down the following year: burn out.

i posted on social media during the treatment, then I went back to posting fun stuffs with my kids maybe once a month or so.

for me during the treatments it was because i wanted to make sure all the women i love would go privately to a mammogram because I was so young my GP refused to refer me so went privately and it was saved my life - literally.
i also wanted to be open about it because you shouldnt have to be alone, and it shouldnt be a secret. Maybe I was attention seeking, yes probably to an extend. But i wasnt faking it and i wasnt attention grabber, i wanted to be surounded with love.

my community rallied around and supported me. And to this day I couldnt be more grateful to them and to my sister, best friend, my husband and children, parents and parents jn law.

disclaimer: i know all my SM friends in real life.

so maybe try to see whats behind the post, there may be real suffering and hurt

Penguinmouse · 15/03/2025 09:19

I’m mostly with you - a friend who has breast cancer posts a lot from hospitals but that’s obviously a way to cope and document a pretty horrible time - plus she uses it for advocacy so when she took a picture at the plastics clinic, she was talking about how her reconstruction was going to work. As a friend worried about her, I found it useful to know what she was going through.

What I can’t stand is people checking in or just posting a random picture of them in a hospital bed with no context! That feels grabby.

Irish24 · 15/03/2025 09:35

Bubblesgun · 15/03/2025 09:17

When i was battling breast cancer i went through a storm for 9 months: surgery/reconstruction, chemo then radio. Then I broke down the following year: burn out.

i posted on social media during the treatment, then I went back to posting fun stuffs with my kids maybe once a month or so.

for me during the treatments it was because i wanted to make sure all the women i love would go privately to a mammogram because I was so young my GP refused to refer me so went privately and it was saved my life - literally.
i also wanted to be open about it because you shouldnt have to be alone, and it shouldnt be a secret. Maybe I was attention seeking, yes probably to an extend. But i wasnt faking it and i wasnt attention grabber, i wanted to be surounded with love.

my community rallied around and supported me. And to this day I couldnt be more grateful to them and to my sister, best friend, my husband and children, parents and parents jn law.

disclaimer: i know all my SM friends in real life.

so maybe try to see whats behind the post, there may be real suffering and hurt

I do get that. I’m not saying no one should post anything to do with an illness but it’s the purpose of it. If it’s just random pictures of drip feeds or pics of them in hospital with no explanation that’s what I find annoying. If it’s to create genuine awareness like breast cancer chemotherapy treatments then I’m completely for that

OP posts:
Coffeeishot · 15/03/2025 09:38

There is such a thing as positive attention seeking it's not always a negative trait and sometimes people are just wanting engagement from their friends and there is nothing wrong with that, if your social media "friends " are irritating just hide them, or maybe send them some well wishes it takes a few seconds out of your day.

JandamiHash · 15/03/2025 09:39

Attention seeking nonsense. Also, no one cares

Miaowzabella · 15/03/2025 09:44

iwentjasonwaterfalls · 14/03/2025 18:19

It's bum worms.

If someone just posts an IV pic or a hospital waiting room pic I can only assume they have intractable bum worms and that's why they're too embarrassed to say what they're there for.

😂😂😂

I didn't know you could get hospitalised for that!

CharlotteCChapel · 15/03/2025 09:44

Sunshineandoranges · 14/03/2025 19:00

I also hate the constant, to me, miserifest of adverts about illness and death. For example, the radio ad about dementia. Mum died the first time from dementia when she forgot how to do her famous roast dinner, then she died again from dementia when she forgot who I was, she finally died from dementia a third time on march 10th. They they go on about the dementia society will always be with you,I have seen people talking positively about livIng with dementia whilst telling you it will be difficult. If I had early dementia the advert would make me weep.

But it's important thst people actually know what to expect. It's not a gradual disease, it comes in steps and each step you lose a part of the person you love.

Having lost two family members to dementia I have no problem with this.

JandamiHash · 15/03/2025 09:46

MyUmberSeal · 14/03/2025 18:49

Drives me mental when people do that. They are waiting and hoping and pining for people to ask what’s wrong. It’s naff as fuck… and I never ask.

I feel like posting “haha” just to be a dick, because I don’t like people who fish for attention

JandamiHash · 15/03/2025 09:47

nocoolnamesleft · 14/03/2025 18:59

The poster two above you is criticising exactly that sort of parent.

Why does anyone need to use their child for social media attention?

getahhtmapub · 15/03/2025 09:49

OMG babe R U Ok?!!!!
DM you hun

Whats happend?
DM you babe

UOK?
DM you hun.

Hmm
JandamiHash · 15/03/2025 09:49

And as the mother of a disabled child who is frequently in hospital, it doesn’t give anyone the right to cross the boundaries of their child’s informed consent. Posting on social media isn’t a human right. So what if they can’t post any other pictures. Don’t post any then, nothing bad will happen if you don’t get social media attention

If DS is in hospital message the family group, my friend list don’t need to know and half of them wouldn’t care anyway

JandamiHash · 15/03/2025 09:50

JeanGenieJean · 14/03/2025 19:04

"Just me and the kids now hun, don't need nobody else" 😂

2 weeks later, posts a picture of them and their new boyfriend at soft play with the child on New Daddy’s shoulders

JandamiHash · 15/03/2025 09:51

nocoolnamesleft · 14/03/2025 19:12

As long as you've never posted a single picture of your child on any social media, that's an absolutely valid position to hold.

You don’t think there’s a difference between posting a picture of your child say with family, than posting one of them in a vulnerable, often painful moment?