I'm so tired of mom cliques

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I am concerned some of you do not have any inkling of experiencing happiness for someone else.

I feel happy for people all the time. I am constantly enriched from learning of the joyful things in the lives of my friends, family, and children.

Seeing a group of people I know and thought I was friends with post pictures from a fun event I wasn't invited to still makes me feel sad.

I think it's disingenuous that you don't understand the difference.

The thing is that people here are blaming the people who posted photos of events on social media. The problem is not the photos. The problem is that the relationship is not what you thought it was. That's a valid source of hurt, IMO, but the argument that the real problem is the people posting photos of good times is silly.

PP here and I disagree. The problem is absolutely the photos, or the sharing of them. It focuses attention the hurt. Without the photos, this person might still feel hurt when they find out the relationship wasn't what they thought. But with the photos, they have to confront the evidence of that fact. It actually makes it more hurtful.

It is very hard to ignore a hurt like that when it pops into your social media feed. It's possible (I've done it) but it is hard and requires a lot of effort.

Meanwhile, you could prevent it from happening by just not posting the photo. Why does anyone who isn't in the photo need to see it? It's one thing if this is a wedding or something, but people on here are just talking about regular social gatherings -- happy hours, BBQs, a birthday dinner. Why would anyone not attending these events want or need to see them?

Then don’t have social media “friends.” Just follow businesses and groups that you need to or interest you. If personal posts get
Under your skin then you need to adjust what you view. No one is doing anything wrong, hateful, or hurtful by posting pictures from a party. Seriously, this is bananas

Your solution to the extremely common and even scientifically documented phenomenon of people feeling hurt and left out by social media posts is for people to get off social media altogether or to exclusively use it for following businesses?

When you could just have manners instead?

You are right this is bananas.

Because the reasoning is bananas. It's okay to post photos of really fancy dinners, or vacations or huge family gatherings or misspelled signs as LONG AS you are related to everyone in the photo?

What? Who said anything about being related?

I just think it's rude to post photos of private gatherings to a public forum, knowing that there will almost certainly be people who see it and feel left out. I don't care about your relationship status with literally any of the people in this scenario. I'm just talking about rude versus not rude. This seem rude.

so is it fine for me to post a photo of a backyard bbq with my family, siblings and their families, and grandparents? or is that rude?

Why would you need to post this photo? Are there people who might see it and feel left out, like a cousin in a nearby town or one of your siblings? If yes, then yes, it is rude. This isn't even hard.

Is this what you are worked up about? It doesn't say you can't post it, just that if there is someone who you know might be offended not to be included (like a sibling, when all the other siblings are there) then it is rude to post it.

This is not the same as saying you aren't allowed to post a photo of a BBQ. You are overreacting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am concerned some of you do not have any inkling of experiencing happiness for someone else.

I feel happy for people all the time. I am constantly enriched from learning of the joyful things in the lives of my friends, family, and children.

Seeing a group of people I know and thought I was friends with post pictures from a fun event I wasn't invited to still makes me feel sad.

I think it's disingenuous that you don't understand the difference.

The thing is that people here are blaming the people who posted photos of events on social media. The problem is not the photos. The problem is that the relationship is not what you thought it was. That's a valid source of hurt, IMO, but the argument that the real problem is the people posting photos of good times is silly.

PP here and I disagree. The problem is absolutely the photos, or the sharing of them. It focuses attention the hurt. Without the photos, this person might still feel hurt when they find out the relationship wasn't what they thought. But with the photos, they have to confront the evidence of that fact. It actually makes it more hurtful.

It is very hard to ignore a hurt like that when it pops into your social media feed. It's possible (I've done it) but it is hard and requires a lot of effort.

Meanwhile, you could prevent it from happening by just not posting the photo. Why does anyone who isn't in the photo need to see it? It's one thing if this is a wedding or something, but people on here are just talking about regular social gatherings -- happy hours, BBQs, a birthday dinner. Why would anyone not attending these events want or need to see them?

Then don’t have social media “friends.” Just follow businesses and groups that you need to or interest you. If personal posts get
Under your skin then you need to adjust what you view. No one is doing anything wrong, hateful, or hurtful by posting pictures from a party. Seriously, this is bananas

Your solution to the extremely common and even scientifically documented phenomenon of people feeling hurt and left out by social media posts is for people to get off social media altogether or to exclusively use it for following businesses?

When you could just have manners instead?

You are right this is bananas.

Because the reasoning is bananas. It's okay to post photos of really fancy dinners, or vacations or huge family gatherings or misspelled signs as LONG AS you are related to everyone in the photo?

What? Who said anything about being related?

I just think it's rude to post photos of private gatherings to a public forum, knowing that there will almost certainly be people who see it and feel left out. I don't care about your relationship status with literally any of the people in this scenario. I'm just talking about rude versus not rude. This seem rude.

so is it fine for me to post a photo of a backyard bbq with my family, siblings and their families, and grandparents? or is that rude?

Why would you need to post this photo? Are there people who might see it and feel left out, like a cousin in a nearby town or one of your siblings? If yes, then yes, it is rude. This isn't even hard.

Is this what you are worked up about? It doesn't say you can't post it, just that if there is someone who you know might be offended not to be included (like a sibling, when all the other siblings are there) then it is rude to post it.

This is not the same as saying you aren't allowed to post a photo of a BBQ. You are overreacting.

You don't get it. She NEEDS to post pictures of her boring extended family BBQ. Her coworkers and former college friends absolutely must know that she wasn't alone all weekend doing nothing. She's got a life, OK?

[Anonymous]

Y’all Are going to go back and forth. Neither is going to give.

Some people have feelings or dismiss others.

Some people care to be included, or else if not included, not really notified.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I have good times with friends all the time and (gasp!) don't even bother to take photos, much less post them to the internet. What's wrong with just keeping your private life private? Then no one's feelings are hurt and you still get to enjoy your life. It's not hard.

When I do occasionally post photos to social media, it's usually something like a sign that has been misspelled in an amusing way. Something that I think might amuse people and that does not require you to be in on something. And when I do have photos from a private event I want to share, I text them to the people who are in them. I can't think of a good reason why people in my extended social network would be interested in it, much less just gushing with happiness about the fact that we had a backyard BBQ or met for rooftop drinks somewhere. And I certainly don't require the external validation from people who weren't there -- I know my life is good already.

Y'all are weird.

I don’t use social media much and don’t take pictures (well, rarely). But I couldn’t care less if others do. I’m not stuck in high school pining to be included in everything by everyone I may be friends or acquainted with. This is really sad for you if you let things like this bother you

Where did I say it bothered me? I don't even look at crap on social media. I truly don't understand what it is for other than as an online white pages to track down someone you lost touch with, or as a platform for private groups or raising money. But I don't think it's surprising that if you do post photos of private social events to social media, it winds up making people feel bad. This seems self evident. Imagine if before Facebook, you sometimes got emailed photos of your neighbor's birthday dinner or the girls night a bunch of moms from your kids school put together without you? I'd view that as hostile, borderline crazy behavior. Just because Facebook makes that easier to do doesn't change the fact that it's obnoxious. I just don't understand why anyone would do this?

Why would you view a photo of someone you like having a good time hostile, borderline crazy behavior?

Are you dense? If you wanted someone to see you having a good time at the party or whatever, why wouldn't you just invite them to the party.

I don't know if you are aware of this, but most people are not sitting around waiting to find out what you did this weekend without them so they can congratulate you on it. It is weirdly self-centered and, yes, hostile to assume that people are watching your life like you are some kind of celebrity personality and they are just so thrilled for your good times.

Most of us have friends who post photos of their social lives. We don't live in anger about it. We don't expect to be invited to every party. We can be happy for our friends.

2000+ friends and no, no posted pics of wine nights or girls' weekends, just family, memes, vacations, food, sunsets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am LOL at some of the people on here who love their social media posts so much they will defend them to the death!

I have never understood you ladies who post so many things on Instagram and Facebook and then act all offended when people call you out on being attention whores. Why else would you post these things?

+1 Also, posting pics of #momswinenightout is pathetic and desperate.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think some of you are being really disingenuous and reading way more into the comments on here than anyone is saying.

No one has said you can't post photos of people to Facebook. I keep seeing this and then trying to find the post that suggest this and it doesn't exist. Y'all are reading into something that isn't there.

Once a friend of mine organized a mom's night but she did not invite a close friend of ours who had just had a baby, because she assumed that said friend wouldn't be able to come out. Some photos of the night got posted to Instagram and the new-mom friend was understandably hurt (and likely super hormonal and more sensitive to the unintentional slight -- been there). It was wrong to assume she wouldn't want to at least be invited even if she bowed out because of the baby, and it was insensitive of us to post photos of it, knowing she'd see them, without thinking about how she'd feel about it. She posted a comment that made it clear she was hurt, we apologized, and everyone moved on. It was a simple mistake and one we won't make again.

If instead we'd responded by saying "OMG why do you even care -- why must you live in anger over this?!?!?" I sense that friendship would be destroyed and she'd rightfully think we were hateful jerks.

Some of you are really starting to sound like hateful jerks.

Literally someone said you shouldn't post photos of backyard bbqs or any social events of less importance than weddings.

Literally? I don't see it. Find the post and quote it. No one said this.

page 13 for the BBQ

You’re completely misrepresenting that post. The person referenced people who were left out and would feel hurt at seeing it, which is crucial context. But again, keep posting pictures of every social event you attend. That’s not attention-seeking at all.

Are we pretending it isn’t self-centered and dramatic to look at a photo of a BBQ and feel like you deserve an invitation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am concerned some of you do not have any inkling of experiencing happiness for someone else.

I feel happy for people all the time. I am constantly enriched from learning of the joyful things in the lives of my friends, family, and children.

Seeing a group of people I know and thought I was friends with post pictures from a fun event I wasn't invited to still makes me feel sad.

I think it's disingenuous that you don't understand the difference.

The thing is that people here are blaming the people who posted photos of events on social media. The problem is not the photos. The problem is that the relationship is not what you thought it was. That's a valid source of hurt, IMO, but the argument that the real problem is the people posting photos of good times is silly.

PP here and I disagree. The problem is absolutely the photos, or the sharing of them. It focuses attention the hurt. Without the photos, this person might still feel hurt when they find out the relationship wasn't what they thought. But with the photos, they have to confront the evidence of that fact. It actually makes it more hurtful.

It is very hard to ignore a hurt like that when it pops into your social media feed. It's possible (I've done it) but it is hard and requires a lot of effort.

Meanwhile, you could prevent it from happening by just not posting the photo. Why does anyone who isn't in the photo need to see it? It's one thing if this is a wedding or something, but people on here are just talking about regular social gatherings -- happy hours, BBQs, a birthday dinner. Why would anyone not attending these events want or need to see them?

Then don’t have social media “friends.” Just follow businesses and groups that you need to or interest you. If personal posts get
Under your skin then you need to adjust what you view. No one is doing anything wrong, hateful, or hurtful by posting pictures from a party. Seriously, this is bananas

Your solution to the extremely common and even scientifically documented phenomenon of people feeling hurt and left out by social media posts is for people to get off social media altogether or to exclusively use it for following businesses?

When you could just have manners instead?

You are right this is bananas.

Because the reasoning is bananas. It's okay to post photos of really fancy dinners, or vacations or huge family gatherings or misspelled signs as LONG AS you are related to everyone in the photo?

What? Who said anything about being related?

I just think it's rude to post photos of private gatherings to a public forum, knowing that there will almost certainly be people who see it and feel left out. I don't care about your relationship status with literally any of the people in this scenario. I'm just talking about rude versus not rude. This seem rude.

so is it fine for me to post a photo of a backyard bbq with my family, siblings and their families, and grandparents? or is that rude?

Why would you need to post this photo? Are there people who might see it and feel left out, like a cousin in a nearby town or one of your siblings? If yes, then yes, it is rude. This isn't even hard.

Is this what you are worked up about? It doesn't say you can't post it, just that if there is someone who you know might be offended not to be included (like a sibling, when all the other siblings are there) then it is rude to post it.

This is not the same as saying you aren't allowed to post a photo of a BBQ. You are overreacting.

You don't get it. She NEEDS to post pictures of her boring extended family BBQ. Her coworkers and former college friends absolutely must know that she wasn't alone all weekend doing nothing. She's got a life, OK?

sorry what is someone supposed to post? no one is forcing you to look at anyone’s Facebook wall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I have good times with friends all the time and (gasp!) don't even bother to take photos, much less post them to the internet. What's wrong with just keeping your private life private? Then no one's feelings are hurt and you still get to enjoy your life. It's not hard.

When I do occasionally post photos to social media, it's usually something like a sign that has been misspelled in an amusing way. Something that I think might amuse people and that does not require you to be in on something. And when I do have photos from a private event I want to share, I text them to the people who are in them. I can't think of a good reason why people in my extended social network would be interested in it, much less just gushing with happiness about the fact that we had a backyard BBQ or met for rooftop drinks somewhere. And I certainly don't require the external validation from people who weren't there -- I know my life is good already.

Y'all are weird.

I don’t use social media much and don’t take pictures (well, rarely). But I couldn’t care less if others do. I’m not stuck in high school pining to be included in everything by everyone I may be friends or acquainted with. This is really sad for you if you let things like this bother you

Where did I say it bothered me? I don't even look at crap on social media. I truly don't understand what it is for other than as an online white pages to track down someone you lost touch with, or as a platform for private groups or raising money. But I don't think it's surprising that if you do post photos of private social events to social media, it winds up making people feel bad. This seems self evident. Imagine if before Facebook, you sometimes got emailed photos of your neighbor's birthday dinner or the girls night a bunch of moms from your kids school put together without you? I'd view that as hostile, borderline crazy behavior. Just because Facebook makes that easier to do doesn't change the fact that it's obnoxious. I just don't understand why anyone would do this?

Why would you view a photo of someone you like having a good time hostile, borderline crazy behavior?

Are you dense? If you wanted someone to see you having a good time at the party or whatever, why wouldn't you just invite them to the party.

I don't know if you are aware of this, but most people are not sitting around waiting to find out what you did this weekend without them so they can congratulate you on it. It is weirdly self-centered and, yes, hostile to assume that people are watching your life like you are some kind of celebrity personality and they are just so thrilled for your good times.

Most of us have friends who post photos of their social lives. We don't live in anger about it. We don't expect to be invited to every party. We can be happy for our friends.

2000+ friends and no, no posted pics of wine nights or girls' weekends, just family, memes, vacations, food, sunsets.

Okay…? You don’t have friends who post any social images out of your 2000 friends?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have good times with friends all the time and (gasp!) don't even bother to take photos, much less post them to the internet. What's wrong with just keeping your private life private? Then no one's feelings are hurt and you still get to enjoy your life. It's not hard.

When I do occasionally post photos to social media, it's usually something like a sign that has been misspelled in an amusing way. Something that I think might amuse people and that does not require you to be in on something. And when I do have photos from a private event I want to share, I text them to the people who are in them. I can't think of a good reason why people in my extended social network would be interested in it, much less just gushing with happiness about the fact that we had a backyard BBQ or met for rooftop drinks somewhere. And I certainly don't require the external validation from people who weren't there -- I know my life is good already.

Y'all are weird.

I don’t use social media much and don’t take pictures (well, rarely). But I couldn’t care less if others do. I’m not stuck in high school pining to be included in everything by everyone I may be friends or acquainted with. This is really sad for you if you let things like this bother you

Where did I say it bothered me? I don't even look at crap on social media. I truly don't understand what it is for other than as an online white pages to track down someone you lost touch with, or as a platform for private groups or raising money. But I don't think it's surprising that if you do post photos of private social events to social media, it winds up making people feel bad. This seems self evident. Imagine if before Facebook, you sometimes got emailed photos of your neighbor's birthday dinner or the girls night a bunch of moms from your kids school put together without you? I'd view that as hostile, borderline crazy behavior. Just because Facebook makes that easier to do doesn't change the fact that it's obnoxious. I just don't understand why anyone would do this?

Why would you view a photo of someone you like having a good time hostile, borderline crazy behavior?

Are you dense? If you wanted someone to see you having a good time at the party or whatever, why wouldn't you just invite them to the party.

I don't know if you are aware of this, but most people are not sitting around waiting to find out what you did this weekend without them so they can congratulate you on it. It is weirdly self-centered and, yes, hostile to assume that people are watching your life like you are some kind of celebrity personality and they are just so thrilled for your good times.

Most of us have friends who post photos of their social lives. We don't live in anger about it. We don't expect to be invited to every party. We can be happy for our friends.

2000+ friends and no, no posted pics of wine nights or girls' weekends, just family, memes, vacations, food, sunsets.

Ooh look at you with your 2000+ friend!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am concerned some of you do not have any inkling of experiencing happiness for someone else.

I feel happy for people all the time. I am constantly enriched from learning of the joyful things in the lives of my friends, family, and children.

Seeing a group of people I know and thought I was friends with post pictures from a fun event I wasn't invited to still makes me feel sad.

I think it's disingenuous that you don't understand the difference.

The thing is that people here are blaming the people who posted photos of events on social media. The problem is not the photos. The problem is that the relationship is not what you thought it was. That's a valid source of hurt, IMO, but the argument that the real problem is the people posting photos of good times is silly.

PP here and I disagree. The problem is absolutely the photos, or the sharing of them. It focuses attention the hurt. Without the photos, this person might still feel hurt when they find out the relationship wasn't what they thought. But with the photos, they have to confront the evidence of that fact. It actually makes it more hurtful.

It is very hard to ignore a hurt like that when it pops into your social media feed. It's possible (I've done it) but it is hard and requires a lot of effort.

Meanwhile, you could prevent it from happening by just not posting the photo. Why does anyone who isn't in the photo need to see it? It's one thing if this is a wedding or something, but people on here are just talking about regular social gatherings -- happy hours, BBQs, a birthday dinner. Why would anyone not attending these events want or need to see them?

Then don’t have social media “friends.” Just follow businesses and groups that you need to or interest you. If personal posts get
Under your skin then you need to adjust what you view. No one is doing anything wrong, hateful, or hurtful by posting pictures from a party. Seriously, this is bananas

Your solution to the extremely common and even scientifically documented phenomenon of people feeling hurt and left out by social media posts is for people to get off social media altogether or to exclusively use it for following businesses?

When you could just have manners instead?

You are right this is bananas.

Because the reasoning is bananas. It's okay to post photos of really fancy dinners, or vacations or huge family gatherings or misspelled signs as LONG AS you are related to everyone in the photo?

What? Who said anything about being related?

I just think it's rude to post photos of private gatherings to a public forum, knowing that there will almost certainly be people who see it and feel left out. I don't care about your relationship status with literally any of the people in this scenario. I'm just talking about rude versus not rude. This seem rude.

so is it fine for me to post a photo of a backyard bbq with my family, siblings and their families, and grandparents? or is that rude?

Why would you need to post this photo? Are there people who might see it and feel left out, like a cousin in a nearby town or one of your siblings? If yes, then yes, it is rude. This isn't even hard.

Is this what you are worked up about? It doesn't say you can't post it, just that if there is someone who you know might be offended not to be included (like a sibling, when all the other siblings are there) then it is rude to post it.

This is not the same as saying you aren't allowed to post a photo of a BBQ. You are overreacting.

You don't get it. She NEEDS to post pictures of her boring extended family BBQ. Her coworkers and former college friends absolutely must know that she wasn't alone all weekend doing nothing. She's got a life, OK?

sorry what is someone supposed to post? no one is forcing you to look at anyone’s Facebook wall.

What should you post? Does this keep you up at night? You could post nothing. Most posts are boring and uninteresting. Your bbq isn’t special.

[Anonymous]

How about just stop!? You not all that and your husband looks like a fart.
Also, stop talking shit.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Yes they are everywhere. Just do your best to focus on other areas as best you can, and be friendly to all.

(And yes, it sucks. I'm frequently the one on the outside, despite being involved in lots of activities with all of them.)

OP here - this is me. I know them, our kids are friends, I just don't live in the cool neighborhood, so I am not one of them, nor will I ever be.

15:29 here - I actually live in the "cool" neighborhood and am still excluded. I saw on FB that the neighborhood moms hosted a baby shower for another neighborhood mom. Yep, not invited and didn't know about it - despite knowing most everyone. Yes, it sucks.

Honest question -- why do you care? Why does this suck? If anything, it tells you who your friends are -- and it's none of these women. Go enjoy life with your real friends, and stop worrying about these neighborhood moms.

PP can still feel hurt by the exclusion.

Then get therapy. That isn't anyone's problem. You are an adult.

I think the person who needs therapy is the one who thinks that we're not allowed to have feelings.

It's perfectly valid for OP and baby shower PP to feel sad about being left out of something that looks fun. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. If your kid hears about a birthday party that they weren't invited to you, do you say something like "I'm sorry, it sounds like that hurts your feelings" to empathize with them, or do you say "suck it up, buttercup, that's life. go see a therapist"?

Haha, I actually do the buttercup thing. And then explain that not everyone gets invited to everything. I do not validate unreasonable expectations. No need to see a therapist.

That’s not something to be proud of or “haha” about. It’s crappy parenting.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Sorry but I just don’t see this. They are groups of friends. Not cliques. These are adult women with kids, spouses, jobs, busy lives. They found common ground and connected. No one has the mental energy for “inclusion” of all moms in the entire school, neighborhood, etc. at all cost. Just be friends with who you want And get along with and stop thinking about who you aren’t friends with or what you aren’t invited to. It isn’t personal. No one can be friends with everyone and included in everything

But others may view those groups of friends as cliques.

If mom “cliques” bother you, then you have issues and insecurities. I don’t think at all about what moms are friends with each other or follow anyone on social media or what they post. That is a you problem, not a them problem. Make you own friends and do your own thing- or don’t. But it doesn’t make anyone mean or wrong bc they are friends with each other and post whatever pictures or hashtags you hate on social media. Stay off social media if this makes you feel insecure.

It used to be considered good manners to not talk about parties/events in front of people not invited. That's what happens on social media. It's rude. But manners have gone out the window. Other people notice the bad manners.

Well expecting people to not post anything social on social media; unless their entire friends list that may happen to view such post were invited, is a big reach. It is called social media for a reason. If other people socializing without you bothers you, you really need to change how/if you use social media.

It was not invented for 40 year old women who should know better than to publicize their social gatherings. It truly is a violation of social norms to do that.

Look, I'm not even on social media so I'm not "that mom". But if it bothers you to see others post things, get off. This is really NBD if people post party pictures and what not. Someone secure and mentally heathy doesn't care. Why are you worrying and caring what others are posting and what you were or weren't invited to? That is the problem. Others are not responsible for your mental well being and making sure you feel included in everything; lest they post a picture and someone not in gets hurt feelings. They are living their own life and not worrying about you. Try it.

DP here.

A secure and mentally healthy person would not need to post photos of private social events to social media. It's attention-seeking behavior, In specific cases, it is likely done with the express goal of making people feel excluded, because people with low-esteem often get a boost from feeling better than others.

I'd also argue that repeatedly arguing with strangers on the internet about whether or not it is okay for them to feel sad or hurt by social media posts is not a sign of a secure and mentally healthy person. To quote you, why do you care? Why does it matter to you if some people complain on an anonymous online board about this? How does it impact you? Why don't you take your own advice and simply log off?

The truth is that the world is full of people who are insecure and struggling with mental health. I am one of them some days. You seem to believe that if people just suck it up, suddenly there will be no more social exclusion, no more hurt feelings, no more interpersonal drama. This is what you have called an "unreasonable expectation." Human beings are programmed to seek out social connection, and thus also programmed to experience distress when they feel socially alienated. You can't just eliminate these needs or responses -- they in some ways define us as people.

I personally think that your anger, frustration, and lack of empathy on this subject indicates that something about this is triggering for you. I don't know you so I don't know what it is. Perhaps, again, you should take your own advice and speak to a therapist about it. You could start by saying, "I feel very agitated when people talk about feeling left or excluded." That's an interesting emotional response and a therapist could help you figure out where it is coming from so that you no longer have such strong reactions to comments by anonymous people in an online forum.

I think that your emotional response to this conversation with strangers is more of a problem than the responses PP's are having to feeling excluded by people they actually know and interact with in real life. Their responses make more sense to me -- they care because these people are their friends, neighbors, and members of their immediate community. But your response on this board is a mystery. You don't know any of these people, so why do you care if they feel sad? It's interesting. Maybe you should look inward and see if you can figure it out.

Move on.

What a lame response to a very valid post. DP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry but I just don’t see this. They are groups of friends. Not cliques. These are adult women with kids, spouses, jobs, busy lives. They found common ground and connected. No one has the mental energy for “inclusion” of all moms in the entire school, neighborhood, etc. at all cost. Just be friends with who you want And get along with and stop thinking about who you aren’t friends with or what you aren’t invited to. It isn’t personal. No one can be friends with everyone and included in everything

But others may view those groups of friends as cliques.

If mom “cliques” bother you, then you have issues and insecurities. I don’t think at all about what moms are friends with each other or follow anyone on social media or what they post. That is a you problem, not a them problem. Make you own friends and do your own thing- or don’t. But it doesn’t make anyone mean or wrong bc they are friends with each other and post whatever pictures or hashtags you hate on social media. Stay off social media if this makes you feel insecure.

It used to be considered good manners to not talk about parties/events in front of people not invited. That's what happens on social media. It's rude. But manners have gone out the window. Other people notice the bad manners.

Well expecting people to not post anything social on social media; unless their entire friends list that may happen to view such post were invited, is a big reach. It is called social media for a reason. If other people socializing without you bothers you, you really need to change how/if you use social media.

Wow that's a huge leap you just made. Where did I say nothing should be posted? Maybe all the exclusive moms night teehee is too much but there are a lot of other things that are fair game. Posts about kids, trips, dinners, anniversaries, etc etc. There's a long list of things that people can use social media for. Sorry you don't like it when people notice your bad manners with your super special mom clique. We get it, you're in the club.

So like, your list is just family things. Should we not post about good times with our friends?

Why do you need attention on the internet for going out with your adult friends? Why can’t you just have the experience and not mine it for Likes and virtual asspats? Sounds very insecure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are trolls, right? Tell me these are trolls.

I just hope there are not people in the world who are ACTUALLY this mad about the idea that that someone might be mildly hurt by a photo they post. This is so off the rails.

I think you have that reversed.

Nope. Not reversed. They are correct. DP