Something to talk about!

FACEBOOK FAMILY

The newest trivia is that middle aged and senior citizens have started venturing into the otherwise youngsters’ domain in the past few years.

While it thrills them as a means to reconnect with their long lost friends, it freaks their younger family members out!

The latter complain about loss of privacy as parents and older relatives tend to spy on them by stalking their updates on Facebook. Metrolife speaks to youngsters about this to find out.

“My whole family and a lot of my relatives are there on Facebook. And it can be very embarrassing when my uncles talk about some of my status updates during family get-togethers,” admits Kalpita Thiagarajan, a B Com student. “I just have to smile and try my best to get away with it!” she says.

Rheema Menon, a 19-year-old, agrees with her. “Whenever I post some picture I took with one of my male friends, it gives rise to a lot of unnecessary gossip amongst my aunties. They start suspecting that I’m involved with him and call my parents up to discuss it. It’s so irritating!,” she says. “Recently, I blocked them all from viewing my status updates and certain pictures to avoid further mess,” she adds.

On the other hand, Cyriac Thomas, a media planner, says he doesn’t care. “My family is on Facebook too and they do get to know what I’m up to through my status updates. I don’t know if they are spying on me. And even if they do, I don’t care! Come on, I’m an adult!,” he says. Priya Sriram, a journalism student, feels the same way too.

“It’s my life!,” she says. “And I’m sure that if such gossips arise, my parents would back me up, any day.”

“It’s true that adults in the family are a little insecure about what their young sons and daughters are upto, in this age. It’s a scary world out there. We need to respect their sentiments and handle this sensitively,” feels Vandana Rajan, a media professional. “We could be discrete about the stuff we put up online,” she says.

While the young clan is pulling faces about this, the older counterparts seem positively thrilled. “Facebook has made life so much easier. It’s even cutting down our telephone bills since we mostly chat with our relatives and friends online,” says 48-year-old Shelton.

“And yes, of course, I stalk my relatives’ profiles to know what they’re upto. It’s nice to stay connected and updated,” he adds. By the looks of it, there is no stopping the senior citizens and older family members from bombarding the social networking sites. The solution could be using our discretion while going online about our activities and certain personal information to avoid such problems.