Facebook Posts

Why do people think it's okay to post life events on Facebook BEFORE telling immediate family members?

This has happened way too often in our family. Imagine finding out someone important to you has died on Facebook.

Really?

Are we that pathetic? What has happened to us that we can't pick up the phone-even it if it was just text someone the information?

A while ago, one of my in-laws posted that one of her family members died. It wasn't someone I knew. I saw her status and let my husband know. He immediately called her up and we gave her our condolences.  It wasn't but a few weeks later when someone else in her family died. This time I didn't see it. Why? Because I have a whopping 250 people on my personal Facebook page and my news feed moves fast. She got upset because we didn't call her. Well, how the hell we were supposed to know? You can't expect people to know what all of their Facebook friends have going on.

If that wasn't bad enough, just recently, one of my grandparents passed away in the middle of the night. It was like 4am. What did my aunts and cousins do? Posted it on Facebook immediately. Can you guess what happened? Other family members that were not awake at 4am found out when they got up at 6am or 7am or whatever and were checking their Facebook. No call. No text. They found out on Facebook. Not cool. Thankfully, my mother knew better and called me right away. I however did not wake my children up to tell them. I waited a couple hours until they got up for school to let them know. And thankfully my 14 year old had her iTouch taken away from her so she couldn't get on Facebook. Her texts and Facebook are the first things she checks in the morning, I have no doubt that if she had her iTouch, she would have found out on Facebook first.

Now this just applies to immediate family members and important things. Pregnancy, giving birth, death, marriage, ya know... important stuff. I told my husband, mother, and kids about my last pregnancy before announcing it to the rest of the world. Same with giving birth. And even when my grandparents died, I made sure my kids knew before *I* posted it on Facebook.

For those of you who don't understand what I'm saying...think about how you would really feel if you found out something 'big' on there. Whether it was your husband losing his job, your teen or your mother's pregnancy, a death of a family member, even a boy breaking up with you - imagine getting that news on Facebook. What if you got fired on Facebook? What if your doctor told you that you had cancer on Facebook? Not cool.

Think before you speak (or write). Pick up the phone and tell someone your news.