Facebook- A new family interaction?

Being from Generation X I have a unique window into the question, "Do I let my Mom and/or children be my friends on Facebook?” In the textbook, Socialnomics, by Erik Qualman it states social media can help bring families a little closer by having parents keep up with what their kids are doing, without following them (Qualman, 2013, p. 30).

Yeah, yeah, yeah to some extent this is true. But anyone coming from a large family knows this can be good or bad! I am Gen X—I am an adult, let me say I have been an adult for a LONG time (not Grandma old, but my best friend is already a Grandmother). Having your Aunt call your Mother and say you ignored her IM is very frustrating!! Then your Mother calls you at work and says you do not need to ignore your Aunt, don’t you remember when she took you to the beach when you were 8? So I get it when my 18-25 year old nieces and nephews roll their eyes when I comment on one of their posts. But I also find it interesting when one of them changes their relationship status. I have called my sister before and asked, so who is Allie’s new boyfriend? Why did Stevie have a crappy day at work? Is Chris really going to Chicago?  So I fall into both sides of the coin on this one!

But on a good side, when cousins in Morgantown post pictures of their children or my niece in Maryland post pictures of her children, I love looking at them. Last week my Mom had a small heart procedure and I was able to post to Facebook that everything went okay. So that was a good thing about social media!

I think a good rule of thumb is, if your Mother would not approve, don’t post—period. Social Media does keep a large family closer together and keeps the gossip fresh!

The Clawges clan at Christmas, we were able to post to Facebook to share with the people in West Virginia and Maryland.

Works Cited

Qualman, E. (2013). Socialnomics. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.