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Ask Amy: Facebook posts create relationship problems

Amy Dickinson, Tribune Content Agency on

Dear Readers: Every year during this time I step away from my column to work on other creative projects. I hope you enjoy these (edited) “Best Of” Q&As from 10 years ago.

Today’s topic is: Unsocial media.

I also invite readers to subscribe to my weekly “Asking Amy” newsletter, at Amydickinson.substack.com, where I post a favorite Q&A, as well as commentary about what I’m reading, watching, and listening to.

I’ll be back with fresh columns after next week.

Dear Amy: My daughter-in-law "Wendy" uses Facebook to complain about her job, her boss, how much she feels cheated by being a working mother, and even about the shortcomings of her new husband (my son), who apparently failed to buy her a lavish enough Mother's Day present.

These posts create a kind of online persona that makes her seem vicious, and she really isn't. But the really embarrassing part is that she is Facebook "friends" with everyone in my family, and, believe me, her posts are a topic of not-too-flattering gossip.

 

I have mentioned to my son a few times when her posts have become offensive, and he is trying to deal with it offline.

– Concerned Mother-in-law

Dear Concerned: When your daughter-in-law posts her complaints, selfishness or negativity on the public bulletin board that is Facebook, she runs the risk of ruining her personal and professional reputation. And that's her business.

When her whining veers into family territory, that's your business.

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