Duggars only get access to social media once courting - why?

[hockeymoo]

What do you suppose the Duggar's reasoning was behind allowing Jill and Jessa to have Twitter and Instagram accounts only once they were officially in courtships? How come Jana and Jinger don't have these same privileges, even though Jana has been given such weighty responsibilities as guardian of the internet (according to A Love That Multiplies, only Jana and Michelle have the internet password), opening the family's mail, and basically being a mom since she was a kid? Of anyone, shouldn't she be emotionally mature and responsible enough to be trusted with a Twitter or Instagram account of her own?

 

Do the Duggars think that courtship is the magic life event that makes a person a "real" adult, or do they think they're protecting the purity and modesty of their adult children like Jana and Jinger by not allowing them to take endless selfies like Blessa? And if that's the case and the Duggars are as committed to their religiousness as they claim to be, how come the rules of purity and modesty are thrown out the window after marriage?

 

What are your thoughts on the reasoning behind bequeathing/denying social media to the adult Duggar children?

[SportsgalAnnie]

my guess is so they dont "offend" potential suitors.

[Toothfairy]

So fans can send presents

[CaptainFunderpants]

So fans can send presents

Yup, definitely all about the $$$.

[Becket70]

To gin up the ratings. At this point, it appears the Duggars are all about money, ratings and influence. Great ratings brings them both money and influence.

[HarleyQuinn]

For more publicity.

Also being that much closer to having a penis in you must make you extra special?

[RosyDaisy]

The only gift I would ever give a fundie is huge box of condoms.

[Knight of Ni]

They don't believe their offspring is truly mature until they get married. So they must not be mature enough for social media until they are engaged. No matter how old they are.

[SassyPants]

They don't believe their offspring is truly mature until they get married. So they must not be mature enough for social media until they are engaged. No matter how old they are.

I'd love to hear Michelle and JB explain how Jessa, Jill and Ben are more truly mature than Jana or even JD-

[singsingsing]

I don't think they'd put it like that... in fact I'm not sure I can think of a rational reason why they only seem to get on social media after they're courting. If there were some Duggar-reason for it you'd expect them to wait until they were actually married, or at least engaged, not just courting. You could say they use it to manage their public image since courting brings them a lot more attention, but I'd say JD, Jana, and Jinger have been getting a lot of fan and media attention over the last few months as well, and yet they're not on social media... at least not publically. That is another possibility, that they have social media but only share it with a select few.

Lawson Bates has been on social media for a long time now, and he's not courting. He uses it to promote his music. On the flipside, Erin Paine only just got instagram, even though she's been married for over a year and also has a music career. I think a lot of it just comes down to personal preference.

[SPHASH]

The only gift I would ever give a fundie is huge box of condoms.

The next Duggar or Bates that gets married I'm making a donation to Planned Parenthood in their name.

[Handmaiden of Dog]

They don't believe their offspring is truly mature until they get married. So they must not be mature enough for social media until they are engaged. No matter how old they are.

I see it more as a way to slowly introduce adult responsibilities. We know they don't trust their offspring even after they have become legal adults but the minute the kids are married they are expected to be in charge of their own lives. So prior to marriage Jill was never allowed to shop on her own or decorate her own room or decide what to wear or go on-line without supervision, etc. Then Blam! She is married and parental supervision is gone. So maybe the social media access is like training wheels-- "Here try this and let us see how you do with this small sliver of responsibility."

If it was only personal preference holding them back, I would expect to see something from Jinger at the very least. She comes across as a very social, outgoing person. She seems like a natural for Twitter and Instagram.

[BlackSheep]

For the unmarried daughters, maintaining a social media account would take time away from their child rearing and household chores. Can't have Jana uploading photos or thinking of captions when there's so much for her to do around the house.

[SassyPants]

For the unmarried daughters, maintaining a social media account would take time away from their child rearing and household chores. Can't have Jana uploading photos or thinking of captions when there's so much for her to do around the house.

In terms of the childcare and housework, I doubt there's much of that going on. It pretty much seems like a Lord of the Flies atmosphere going on in Tonitown.

[DefrauderDaughter]

The next Duggar or Bates that gets married I'm making a donation to Planned Parenthood in their name.

That's literally the perfect idea and I'm ashamed I didn't think of it sooner! HEAVEN FORBID women get free pap smears! JESUS WILL RID YOU OF THE CANCER, LADIES. :roll:

[BlackSheep]

In terms of the childcare and housework, I doubt there's much of that going on. It pretty much seems like a Lord of the Flies atmosphere going on in Tonitown.

That might explain what happened to Jennifer's glasses. ;)

[calimojo]

OT, I suppose, but I wonder if they have domestic help. Paid, domestic help I mean, not just the kids and Grandma Duggar. We hear a lot about their "Jurisdictions", but we really don't see them doing too much. Even the child rearing isn't really shown much. The little kids just run wild, so I don't really see where Jana, Jill, Jessa and Jinger have been too terribly busy chasing after them.

And by now, all the kids can dress themselves and all but may Josie and Jordyn should be able to brush their own hair, etc. So other than a few reminders here and there, the care of the kids seems pretty light in that family. Schooling we know is done mostly by Debbie Query, and I think when she lived at home Jessa helped out, but I don't think Jana and Jinger do that.

While my heart goes out to those girls, and really all of the kids, I really do wonder exactly what it is that Jana, Jinger and Joy do all day to stay busy? I suppose Joy is still in SOTDRT, but not the other two. And what do Josiah, Joe, the Twins do all day? The Twins probably spend some time in school, but Josiah and Joe are graduated, so WTF are they doing with all of their time? Other than their occasional travels, their lives seem incredibly boring to me.

[Feberin]

Has Josiah had much time at home since he finished his schooling? It seemed like he was at ALERT forever! I would assume Joe helps JD with his towing business or some such thing. He may also have become a volunteer firefighter or something. Have the twins been behind posting videos on youtube? That might explain how they're filling their days.

I think the older girls are still kept quite busy. Unless they've hired a chef there are a lot of teenage boys to cook for and clean up after. Plus with all the weddings then the holidays and mission trip I'm sure they've been kept quite busy.

Back to the original topic I wonder if part of it started as a way for courting couples who weren't close to each other to get to be a bigger part in each other's lives? They also may worry that allowing non-courting children have accounts on social media they would get too many propositions from the wrong people.

[SassyPants]

Has Josiah had much time at home since he finished his schooling? It seemed like he was at ALERT forever! I would assume Joe helps JD with his towing business or some such thing. He may also have become a volunteer firefighter or something. Have the twins been behind posting videos on youtube? That might explain how they're filling their days.

I think the older girls are still kept quite busy. Unless they've hired a chef there are a lot of teenage boys to cook for and clean up after. Plus with all the weddings then the holidays and mission trip I'm sure they've been kept quite busy.

Back to the original topic I wonder if part of it started as a way for courting couples who weren't close to each other to get to be a bigger part in each other's lives? They also may worry that allowing non-courting children have accounts on social media they would get too many propositions from the wrong people.

Sorry, opening a bunch of cans and placing the yield in a disposal pan to heat, takes no time at all.

It takes me longer to cook from scratch each night for my family-

Cooking takes them little time. They do not cook, they reheat.

Clean up is nothing...open can and throw in used plates/utensils.

[lisa_m]

I assume the non-courting adult kids aren't allowed to have social media accounts until they court because their parents don't think of them as adults until they're married or at least start courting. I think that is also the reason they need an accountability partner while they're still living at home but don't need one once they get married. As long as they're not married, their parents still think of them as kids who need their parents' protection.

[Vivi_music]

Wow that's a good question. :shock: I think there is a mix of reasons why only the kids that are courting can have access to social media. A lot of people have said it before, but it probably partly a question of responsibility, some personal preferences, and public relations.

Considering how the recent courtships brought a lot of attention to the family, Instagram is certainly a way to reach out to fans even when the show is not running. It's an effective publicity for the family, seeing as the number of followers Jessa got. And let's face it, Jill and Jessa were the stars of the last season for sure.

I think it's also a way to test the kids, as they get ready to head into the ''grown-up'' world. I do think it's ridiculous that they are ''trained'' to behave like adults a few months before being headed over the their new headship *rolls-eyes*. But it is the way it works in their world so I bet having your own IG account is like a important thing for the kids who are courting. It must make them feel special compared to their other siblings. I bet the parents also use this as a sort of test, to see if the children will be able to maintain a good image once married. Let's face it, Jimchelle clearly did damage control with Jessa's sexy picture. If it was a test, I'm pretty sure she was told to watch it on social media.

Finally, I do think personal taste is important too. Jessa is clearly the type to use Instagram, as we can see by all the selfies. Jill strikes me as the type of girl who also loves IG. But Jana doesn't. Even if she was courting, I just don't see Jana posting kissing selfies, pictures of her with her hubby, etc. She's more private than that. Besides, some of the other Duggar kids are on other websites no? The twins and Josiah are clearly the ones being the Youtube Duggar's Studio so I guess they have the password and can manage it. Even though the Duggarfam Instagram is officially for the whole family, I think Jinger and Joy-Anna are the ones who take the pictures/post them online. So they have a bit of responsibilities there. And wasn't there a Pinterest account that maybe was Jana's? (I'm really not sure about that one. Some people found it, and it looked like Jana's because most of the things pinned were related to wedding planning and it had Jill's color scheme.) I guess that for the wedding, they allowed Jana to have her own account.

[FJismyheadship]

Jessa and Jinger did have Instagram at one point. Jessa was jessalauren and Jinger was jnicoled Of course, they will all deny this even though the Hartono's were following them and Jonathan had even posted a photo of Jessa instagramming like crazy. Anyway, the profiles were private, but I guess they were forced to take them down because they disappeared. I asked Amy once about the profiles and she said they never had them, even though it was a big fat lie.

[RabbitKM]

Jessa and Jinger did have Instagram at one point. Jessa was jessalauren and Jinger was jnicoled Of course, they will all deny this even though the Hartono's were following them and Jonathan had even posted a photo of Jessa instagramming like crazy. Anyway, the profiles were private, but I guess they were forced to take them down because they disappeared. I asked Amy once about the profiles and she said they never had them, even though it was a big fat lie.

You talked to Amy?

[FloraKitty35]

The next Duggar or Bates that gets married I'm making a donation to Planned Parenthood in their name.

I'll make one to GLAAD in their names.

[RosyDaisy]

OT, I suppose, but I wonder if they have domestic help. Paid, domestic help I mean, not just the kids and Grandma Duggar. We hear a lot about their "Jurisdictions", but we really don't see them doing too much. Even the child rearing isn't really shown much. The little kids just run wild, so I don't really see where Jana, Jill, Jessa and Jinger have been too terribly busy chasing after them.

And by now, all the kids can dress themselves and all but may Josie and Jordyn should be able to brush their own hair, etc. So other than a few reminders here and there, the care of the kids seems pretty light in that family. Schooling we know is done mostly by Debbie Query, and I think when she lived at home Jessa helped out, but I don't think Jana and Jinger do that.

While my heart goes out to those girls, and really all of the kids, I really do wonder exactly what it is that Jana, Jinger and Joy do all day to stay busy? I suppose Joy is still in SOTDRT, but not the other two. And what do Josiah, Joe, the Twins do all day? The Twins probably spend some time in school, but Josiah and Joe are graduated, so WTF are they doing with all of their time? Other than their occasional travels, their lives seem incredibly boring to me.

Paid help? Not likely since there were 500 volunteers for Jill's wedding day prep. The Duggars expect handouts and free labor.