Monday, August 3, 2009

Virtual reality

Dear Internets,

My mom joined the Facebook this weekend. I'm not sure what the protocol is. I heart my mom (for reals, she's the best), and I think it's awesome that she's on Facebook and will be able to reconnect with old friends online.

On the flip side, after I added her, I immediately got 3 friend requests from very religious and conservative relatives.

I always figured my Facebook profile was fairly work/family safe, but now I'm not so sure. Do I need to untag myself from vacation and birthday party photos where I'm holding a drink? Do I delete the jokey comments my gay boyfriends occasionally leave on my page? Should I change my religious status to something other than "extremist"?

I've never felt that there's anything inappropriate about my life, online or off, but then again, I never really thought ahead to the day that my uber-conservative grandma would join Facebook. (It's coming.)

What do I doooo, Internets?

Love,
Jane

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

My mom recently joined facebook too! It's weird because when she added me, on came the rest of the family! I just censor some things, they know I drink and do stupid things so it's not that big of a deal, but I would suggest untagging anything bad...

Yolanda said...

I'm so glad my mom has no interest in any going on on the internet other than news related stuff. My mother would be one of the conservatives you speak of.

As for your other 3 family member requests, just ignore them, then change the subject if they ever mention it over dinner.

Elizabeth said...

First, you add me on FB.

Second, you ignore the requests. If they say something about it, just fumble something up about how your computer doesn't work too well. Confusion is your best bet!

Anonymous said...

Everyone is saying ignore the request and that's good advice.

Personally I'd accept them and carry on as normal. Because you're awesome, and you shouldn't have to hide who you are. :)

Hillary said...

I ignored the requests from random family members and used the "I'm not on facebook much" lie if anyone mentioned it. But then my mother-in-law added me and I had no choice but to accept her friend request. And then I died a little inside.

I just limit what she can see of my profile (so, uh, no pictures and no wall.)

miss petite america said...

i agree with sleepy jane. be who you are.

and if there really is something scandalous, you can limit who sees what.