re: #426 klys (maker of Silmarils)

Part of it was it used to be not so common to find out, I think?

Out of my friends, a few have found out ahead of time. No one has done the stupid party thing. Of those who’ve found out, not everyone has shared the info anyway.

My parents chose the surprise route for the first two but did cave on the third because Mom wanted to know if she needed to go buy “boy” type clothes. (I think she would have only really cared when it came to formal stuff, because I’m pretty sure there would have otherwise still been a lot of recycling going on.)

When I had our kids (early ’80s) there was a difference in what parents-to-be were sharing even within the 18 months between my kids. Ultrasounds were just becoming common and people were starting to bring the pictures home and share them by the time I had my second child, but not so much when I had my first. We knew the sex of the second child about a month ahead only because I had to have amniocentesis, but otherwise neither my OB or I would have thought to do an ultrasound.

Generally, people have been oversharing for a long time. Now with social media they just have to up the ante like they do with prom invites and the like.