I am putting Mel Robbins in this category of grifters. She refers to herself as "one of the most respected experts on change and motivation in the world." Uh, no. You are a former lawyer who's read a lot of books, and who went from being in debt to being rich and have now declared yourself an expert on all hardship. Her advice is trite at best, dangerous at worst. Feeling depressed? Count to five and just get out of bed, you sad sack! She had an episode where she positioned her son as an expert on overcoming anxiety. So inappropriate. Basically, she distilled a very real mental health issue into "my son just decided to not care about the kids teasing him. So you can beat this, too!"

We were tired of her lies and fiction writing.

Is she still married? I wonder, now having 15+ years in the rearview mirror of the blogosphere, how many mom blog marriages survived?

These subjects are now teens. One in treatment for self harm behaviors, another for an eating disorder. Awful to think that a future boss or employer will do a cursory search of X and up comes naked baby photos and an update on how he conquered potty training after a week of pull ups.

A post sponsored by Pampers will definitely come up in a job interview! "Well, Jackson, we are so happy to see you successfully made it through potty training..let's put you as SVP of finance!"

I was in the inner circle of an early mommy blogger who stretched the truth, made herself the heroine, used my family as blog subjects without permission and then wondered where her pre-blogger friends had gone.

We were tired of her lies and fiction writing.

My kids went to elem school with a mom blogger who always tried to portray her kids as victims when , in fact, they were the most popular kids at school. It was ridiculous.

^^^were NOT close to what they portrayed.

In my life I was on the front row of a family member who was a wanna be influencer, and my kids went to school with another very prominent mommy blogger in California. Both these womens' lives were close to what they portrayed, and in fact, both were very quiet in person, versus a very shouty, rah rah, confrontational online persona.

It has been a source of amusement to watch some of these mom blogs unhitch themselves from other "influencers" who became problematic for their image. I think of Kristen Howerton and her past friendship with the Duck Dynasty family, and how uncomfortable she and her family looked on the camo carpet at the premiere for some TV show.

Also interesting to see which of Jen's "besties" stick around the next couple of years. But, as a PP mentioned, once the grandchildren start arriving, Jen will be great at that and her life will be full again.

Anonymous wrote:People are always searching for someone to have more wisdom than they do to guide them on how to 'do life.' ALL of these self-help gurus would do well to find real jobs and quit the rat race of having next big thing...admitting that we are all in this together and no one really knows what they are doing.

Also, giving their minor children privacy and refusing to use their struggles for content would be an excellent 1st step. Not to mention not SHOWING OFF THE INSIDE OF THEIR HOMES SO ANY CREEP KNOWS EXACTLY THE LAYOUT OF THEIR HOMES...the lack of protection for all of these grifters is astounding.

There should be rules against allowing minors to be exploited in this manner.

A family member has an early Mommy Blog filled with photos of her young children poolside/swimming/activities where they are wearing very little. At least I can shred my naked baby photos or laugh and close the album.

Each child got a lengthy profile blog post on their birthday usually in an easily identifiable uniform or in front of the school. This always bothered me, but the few other family members I expressed my concerns to told me this was just a proud mom, bored SAHM, typical of this generation of socially media savvy parents and I was unnecessarily worried.

These subjects are now teens. One in treatment for self harm behaviors, another for an eating disorder. Awful to think that a future boss or employer will do a cursory search of X and up comes naked baby photos and an update on how he conquered potty training after a week of pull ups.

What was said above about these people never turning down an opportunity...it is all of their readers' fault in the end. I've never understood the fawning and acting as if these influencers care about us. How the heck did the entirety of society get sucked up into this. I read the comments on these BSers and I just can't get over it! Dave wrote a book about all he overcame after his divorce. He wrote it, what, a few months after he had gone through this horrible life-change? HE WAS WRITING A BOOK! Instead of helping his children, getting counseling, eating well, getting spiritual guidance...he wrote a book! And then he flew across the country to date Heidi. Why did anyone listen to him? Why did anyone care? We should have all been leaving him alone to get himself together. Instead we followed him like a stalker! Jen told us she was devastated. When I'm devastated I don't post pictures of myself under a tree. When I'm devastated I don't think I have anything to offer anyone. I'm certainly not going to write a cookbook (wow, so weird!) and plan a cruise for all my fans!!! Let's get a grip and ignore these crazy people and maybe they will get uncrazy!

People are always searching for someone to have more wisdom than they do to guide them on how to 'do life.' ALL of these self-help gurus would do well to find real jobs and quit the rat race of having next big thing...admitting that we are all in this together and no one really knows what they are doing.

Also, giving their minor children privacy and refusing to use their struggles for content would be an excellent 1st step. Not to mention not SHOWING OFF THE INSIDE OF THEIR HOMES SO ANY CREEP KNOWS EXACTLY THE LAYOUT OF THEIR HOMES...the lack of protection for all of these grifters is astounding.

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if anyone in the history of these people have ever turned something down because it actually conflicted with their values. Imagine Brandon saying, Nah, I don't think I should write a book about Christianity because I'm not feeling it now. Or Jen saying no to writing a book about less consumption because she buys cheap, plastic garbage without a care in the world. Or Glennon saying no to writing a book about marriage because she's about to get a divorce. Or Dave saying no to writing a leadership book because he's a drug addict and not the leader he claims to be. These people are truly incapable of any self-awareness and seeing how their lives are completely incompatible with the garbage philosophies they're pushing.

Of course not. Not when there's an opportunity to get a fat advance. These people are always spinning a narrative that allows for them to be the expert or the emerging expert on any little thing or topic or "discussion" they want. It's part of their manifesting fake it to you make it bullshit.

I wonder if anyone in the history of these people have ever turned something down because it actually conflicted with their values. Imagine Brandon saying, Nah, I don't think I should write a book about Christianity because I'm not feeling it now. Or Jen saying no to writing a book about less consumption because she buys cheap, plastic garbage without a care in the world. Or Glennon saying no to writing a book about marriage because she's about to get a divorce. Or Dave saying no to writing a leadership book because he's a drug addict and not the leader he claims to be. These people are truly incapable of any self-awareness and seeing how their lives are completely incompatible with the garbage philosophies they're pushing.

Jen's biggest sin ever social media wise in my opinion has been putting her daughter on total blast repeatedly, many many times, for the I guess amusement of hundreds of thousands of total strangers. That is next level toxic. The damage of this is incalculable. But yet I am sure we're going to get a lot of Mother's Day promo code opportunities from TeamJen!

It’s so uncomfortable to read disparaging, sarcastic and mean-spirited posts by these “influencers” especially when the author directs her ire towards her DH. Glennon did this.

I’ve been married for literally half of my life. Such a bad look and I always wonder and worry about the DH - does he read these posts? Does he feel enraged? Insulted? Emasculated? Diminished? Is this not abusive behavior?

I’d be devastated if DH posted a personal story detailing one of our arguments or even a supposed mistake I made. I also wouldn’t want personal details shared for my boss, neighbors, coworkers etc to read and judge.

After a while, the reader begins to think and question why the influencer is married to this colossal failure of a man. Is this crowd sourcing - are the followers supposed to think this is high humor and comment upon what a stupid guy she has as a partner?