tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post1766578846278716884..comments2024-03-11T06:22:36.107+00:00Comments on angloyankophile: Expat Talk: Why I Signed My Parents Up To Social MediaAngloyankophilehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13798135990583648390noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-63834439056678998612015-01-19T20:55:03.617+00:002015-01-19T20:55:03.617+00:00My mom is more active on social media than me and ...My mom is more active on social media than me and it gets a little bizarre. She talks about things I've never heard of (she was using snapchat before I'd even ever heard of it), uses an excessive amount of emojis and acronyms (I had to google "FOMO" the other day because she kept using it), and has a habit of sharing and retweeting things that make me cringe, but being so far away from home, I've enjoyed the connection it has given us. I still can't get her to understand that I can't see things on Facebook just because she can see them (she thinks if someone is HER friend, that they are automatically MY friend, too, because she and I are friends and "you're my daughter. I don't care if you see my Facebook!".....sigh). <br /><br />I AM really glad she uses social media though, because it's just so damn convenient for me to share things with her that way, but I do sometimes censor myself or hold back about certain things altogether because even though I'm in my 30's, I still don't want to disappoint my mom. HA!charlee crowley englishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09332274235340937138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-37609992704847130892015-01-15T07:25:56.725+00:002015-01-15T07:25:56.725+00:00Thanks, Lix! I look forward to reading your post. ...Thanks, Lix! I look forward to reading your post. Thanks for sharing your experience with me.Angloyankophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13798135990583648390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-22971637987386483992015-01-14T14:40:16.576+00:002015-01-14T14:40:16.576+00:00No need to turn red! Promise it's totally fine...No need to turn red! Promise it's totally fine.<br /><br />And I feel the same way. Thinking about writing something on this soon – everytime I come home, often without Derrick because of logistical reasons (read: ticket prices and work schedules), I feel like I fall into kid sister mode, because that's always been my place in the family and because I also left home at 18 for school. It's weird and interesting and I'm guessing in some ways we all do a little of that.Second Floor Flathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03756771578184447195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-67266510155106117342015-01-14T14:22:57.560+00:002015-01-14T14:22:57.560+00:00*turns beet red*
And yes, everything you mentione...*turns beet red*<br /><br />And yes, everything you mentioned in your first paragraph totally, completely makes sense. I don't know about you, but I was 17 when I moved away from home to attend college at the opposite end of the country. In many ways, I feel like my parents still "know" the 17-year-old me. I often feel like I haven't grown up in their eyes. So yes, especially since some of my posts are so personal (and like you said, stuff I wouldn't bring up necessarily at the dinner table), I feel like blogging has brought us closer together.<br /><br />Thank you for such an insightful comment, Robin! You know I could talk to you for days on end about this stuff ... Angloyankophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13798135990583648390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-12394776444870323312015-01-14T14:17:31.493+00:002015-01-14T14:17:31.493+00:00Oh, can I ever relate to this. Social media – espe...Oh, can I ever relate to this. Social media – especially when living away from home – is both a godsend and a nightmare. We could take this a step further and relate it to blogging. I think blogging about personal things has brought me closer to my parents in a way, because it helps them to see a side of me and helps them to understand feelings I have that I am, for some reason, comfortable writing about and sharing online but probably wouldn't just casually bring up to them over coffee. Somehow this third party platform frees me up to express myself in ways I didn't before. Does that make sense?<br /><br />But yes – back to social media. Sometimes I think my mom knows my Instagram friends better than I do, and that's a scary thing. (Warning – she definitely knows who you are, Jaime!)Second Floor Flathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03756771578184447195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-45877658089301666932015-01-13T22:15:09.069+00:002015-01-13T22:15:09.069+00:00This was a great post! I already tweeted you about...This was a great post! I already tweeted you about this, but I like this topic, so: my mom actually got Facebook before I did, though she didn't start using it properly until I moved country. I told her engagement with my page helped the posts reach people, so she likes ALL my posts. It's really sweet. I also got her an Instagram account because I wanted her to post pictures of my cat, which she's never done. She checks my Instagram on occasion, but she doesn't actually use it. Instead, she sends pictures of the cat... via twitter DM. Which is also the only thing she uses Twitter for: DM-ing me. She's not very private with her various accounts, so sometimes my sister or my father use them to communicate with me, and she found that twitter DMs were a little more private. If you'd told me last winter that I'd be communicating with my mom via twitter DM - which I used to hate - on a daily basis, I would have been utterly baffled. But here we are.<br /><br />She also reads my blog, which has been a little weirder - she uses google translate to understand what I post, and sometimes it garbles some things. But mostly I like to write really honestly and sometimes I worry her when I post about my depression. I don't talk to her a lot about it because it either saddens me or annoys me when she starts in with the bootstrapping, even if she means well. But I still feel a little stifled sometimes.<br /><br />It's worth it, anyway.Lix Hewetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04633328081542361870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-30446839250682347232015-01-13T22:09:58.184+00:002015-01-13T22:09:58.184+00:00Hopefully you'll meet him this year and he'...Hopefully you'll meet him this year and he'll say something suitably embarrassing! xAngloyankophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13798135990583648390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-71873400210417530952015-01-13T18:14:21.125+00:002015-01-13T18:14:21.125+00:00"What's wrong with your chin there? That ..."What's wrong with your chin there? That dark mark? Is that a zit? I don't want to see that." I love your dad Jaime! <br />xNatalienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-32537136373118290902015-01-13T13:48:15.343+00:002015-01-13T13:48:15.343+00:00Amazing, Gemma!!! Emoji conversations are THE BEST...Amazing, Gemma!!! Emoji conversations are THE BEST. I used to almost exclusively use emojis to communicate with my mom when we'd chat on Skype. I think living apart from your parents (or at least, not in the same town), regardless of whether or not you're an expat, is difficult. xAngloyankophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13798135990583648390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-39439518220650166002015-01-13T13:46:37.835+00:002015-01-13T13:46:37.835+00:00Gianni ... don't even ... you have no idea. It...Gianni ... don't even ... you have no idea. It's somewhere between madness and hilarity in my household. "Personal hype-woman" had me cracking up to no end, though!!! It's nice to know that you also keep in touch with your mom through your blog. And, "The Face" ... hahahaha!Angloyankophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13798135990583648390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-34781598169171717662015-01-13T13:30:01.370+00:002015-01-13T13:30:01.370+00:00This is brilliant! I have just got my Mum an Iphon...This is brilliant! I have just got my Mum an Iphone and this morning she has been sending me emojis of animals :)<br />It makes me feel so loved, and so proud of her.<br />We're going to FaceTime later, and though I'm not an expat we do live at different ends of the country, so it's great that technology can bring us that tiny bit closer together - and also ensure I get my daily dose of rabbit emojis!!! xGemmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10315633464933897657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-82836418746129239862015-01-13T13:27:41.114+00:002015-01-13T13:27:41.114+00:00Your dad sounds HI-LAR-I-OUS. "Yuck! Who'...Your dad sounds HI-LAR-I-OUS. "Yuck! Who's that?!" XD Between that and your mom being your personal hype-woman...your parents sound like so much fun hahaha. My mom was on Facebook before I left and we Skype a lot (or used to -- less so now). She reads my blog, too, and comments sometimes, which is nice. My grandmother is the one I worry about...she still calls Facebook "The Face"... >.>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05288533010611643097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-91774626101511034282015-01-13T13:11:45.917+00:002015-01-13T13:11:45.917+00:00That's terrific, Ruth! And it's lovely tha...That's terrific, Ruth! And it's lovely that you have your blog on top of sending all the postcards and letters and the FaceTime conversations too. But it's a great way to keep in touch. Btw, I peeked at your Houston photos and it looked like you all had so much fun! Angloyankophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13798135990583648390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3743876470050160495.post-17895554450590314552015-01-13T13:04:17.669+00:002015-01-13T13:04:17.669+00:00Funny post, unintentionally so or otherwise! I st...Funny post, unintentionally so or otherwise! I started my blog so my mum (my son's only surviving grandparent) could see photos of my son every day. Same goes for her FB account. Now she says things like, "Hupf, I seem to get all my news from FB these days!" (conveniently forgetting the FT conversations and the postcards and letters with photos included sent "just because"!! Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18032490985687716495noreply@blogger.com