I keep reading, and listening to people, who are put out by having to "friend" someone that they don't really want to share their lives with, but have no idea how to do it in a nice way. They don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. In most cases it's young people who don't want the adults in their lives (or their parent's friends), to know what is going on in theirs. They want it to be about their social connections and not about family members knowing too much.
This would have been a problem for me in my younger years. It was much better that the adult members of my family only knew what was actually going on through gossip. Much safer. Had they known the truth, I'm sure they would have disowned me. In fact, I don't let most of my family members or social circle know about my blog, either. For the same reason. It wasn't that long ago that I was only known by my nom de plume "Lover of Life." It was a big step to add my name.
And, quite frankly, I really don't want to have blow by blow playbacks of what my children are up to. They don't tell me everything, which is just fine with me. (My father often said he didn't want to know what I was up to in my twenties. To the point of covering his ears and making "lalalalalalalala" noises, when I tried to over share.)
What is weird is when other people, out of the blue, tell me what my children are up to. I get kind of a creepy feeling. Kind of like - should they know what I don't? Even if I don't want to know it?
Which brings me back to Facebook. Is this an issue for you or your family members? And if so, how do you deal with it?
