Life Advice

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Health

Has social media flipped the relationship pyramid?

By Amy Dickinson, Tribune Content Agency on

Dear Amy: I'm a senior citizen, and am very active on social media.

I've noticed that my adult children and grandchildren tend to share big announcements publicly without first notifying their close family members.

Is this the new normal? Or am I expecting too much from them?

It really stings when I read that they are expecting a baby or are about to finalize an adoption and realize that they didn't notify us before they went public with it.

Am I being unrealistic? I haven't said anything to them about it, and likely won't.

Thanks for any insight you can shed on this.

 

-- Just a Grandma

Dear Grandma: I don't enjoy being the bearer of this news, but yes -- posting publicly what could/should be private or family-centered news does seem to be the new normal. Sigh.

Family members and intimate friends have until recently held a special status -- that of being first in line for big news. Closeness conveyed a VIP ticket to "the big show" -- the revealing of the momentous occasions of a loved one's life.

And now that sweet pyramid of intimate knowledge -- about the engagements, the pregnancies, the tender mercies of an ordinary life -- has been flipped.

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