My mother and grandmother often tell stories of evening gatherings with family and friends on the front porch of the “Downey’s” (the family matriarch) and sharing the activities of the day, news of the family, or discussion world events. The neighborhood kids would play and neighbors came together!
Today, we log-on to facebook to connect with family and friends to share the activities of our day, news of the family or discussion of world events. We know who is pregnant, who is working tonight, and who's child saw snow for the first time, "pooped" in the toilet or did something else too cute for words (thus the photos or video upload)!
Therefore I propose that facebook is the rekindling of the “front porch” where individuals come together to share and socialize. The difference is that technology makes it possible for us to connect with a larger network of friends and to share across longer distances. The one limitation is – there is no sharing of the fresh-baked cookies and pies made by the neighbor!
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Here are some social networking sites focused on families: Sort of a virtual front porch!!
e-family , 10 family friendly social networking sites
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Here are some social networking sites focused on families: Sort of a virtual front porch!!
e-family , 10 family friendly social networking sites
Debbie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. It brought back wonderful memories of years gone by. When I was a little girl we would visit and have dinner with my grandmother every Sunday. The adults would talk and the children would play in the yard. Now that we are all grown, we live in many different places and we don’t meet face to face often. However, with Face book we are able to keep in touch and stay abreast of what’s going on in each other’s lives. But I still miss Sundays in the back yard.
An increasingly mobile society has changed the ways we communicate and keep in touch. When I was born, my parents lived across the hall from my mothers parents - and YES, there are stories of my grandfather running in everytime I cried, asking "what are you doing to her" (the advantage of being the first grandchild). One of my mother's brothers and his new wife also lived in the building and extended family (great grandparents, great aunts, uncles, etc) still lived in the family home with was about 2 (short) blocks away. No one in my generation lives in this type of close proximety to each other.
ReplyDeleteOver the holidays, there was an item on the news about the decreasing number of holiday cards being sent/received and the reason was that by the time the card with the family picture was made and mailed the sender could have posted even more current photos and family news via facebook, email and other social networking sites. But the one thing that remains the same is -- people want to keep in touch and know what is happening with family and friends.