- Family ties are precious threads, no matter where we roam,
They draw us close to those we love, and pull our hearts toward home. Author Unknown
I propose that Social Media sharing sites have a greater impact on the older generation of family members. Social media sharing sites such as FaceTime, YouTube and Instagram
bring back a sense of togetherness and a time when the nuclear family lived in
relatively close proximity to each other. Family was historically very insular, localized, and connected. Families didn't unless they were pioneers creating new settlements move more than a few miles from each other.The lines of sharing and communication previously blurred by distance
are now inconsequential.
With a simple web camera and a social media account you can still share baby’s first steps with grandmom in another state or read a story to your child while on a business trip thousands of miles away. With sites such as Skype and FaceTime you can even live chat with grandpa. This allows for the sense of community that we seem to have lost. This also allows for in the case of children them to see their family members as live people. One of the running jokes when I was a little girl growing up in Philadelphia was that my grandmother lived in the telephone. You see my grandparents lived in rural Maryland, and we didn’t have a car at the time so I spoke with my grandmother initially as a child predominantly by phone ergo the 2-3 year old kid logic my grandmother lived in the telephone. But now I watch as my great niece is able to FaceTime with my sister-in-law and get to know her in ways that a simple picture or story would not allow.
With a simple web camera and a social media account you can still share baby’s first steps with grandmom in another state or read a story to your child while on a business trip thousands of miles away. With sites such as Skype and FaceTime you can even live chat with grandpa. This allows for the sense of community that we seem to have lost. This also allows for in the case of children them to see their family members as live people. One of the running jokes when I was a little girl growing up in Philadelphia was that my grandmother lived in the telephone. You see my grandparents lived in rural Maryland, and we didn’t have a car at the time so I spoke with my grandmother initially as a child predominantly by phone ergo the 2-3 year old kid logic my grandmother lived in the telephone. But now I watch as my great niece is able to FaceTime with my sister-in-law and get to know her in ways that a simple picture or story would not allow.
Another example of this was the family environment in which my
mother grew up . She only had to walk
100ft or so to see her aunts , cousins, or grandparents. To be perfectly honest
until the day that my grandfather died his nieces, nephews, great nieces, the great great nephews and one of his sons
were simply a driveway away. This meant that if someone needed to check on him
they could or when the family wanted/needed to join together there was a
village. His being able to see the third and fourth generation of immediate and extended family grow up around
him was something that he took pride in.
Now with all of us spread all over the country from
Pennslyvania to Florida and west to Colorado social media sites allow us to
continue to share the important moments in life with family and not feel like
we are missing everything. Yes being there is better but now knowing at all is
worse.
PeriscopeYouTube
Skype
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014). David Thornburg: Rhymes of history [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
