sorry... A foreign concept. Foreign in the sense that it's unknown, not referring to something in another country.

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to the age when people cannot disconnect. Ever. It used to be that you'd go on vacation for a week or two and your only contact with the world you left behind was sending a postcard. Now, when even state and national parks are adding wi-fi, it's getting very hard for people to not be tempted to get online. Heck, I've never been able to understand the throngs of people who go to to a beach house for a week and sit and watch Direct TV, get online, play video games, etc. Why not just sit at home and do that? People don't understand the benefits of TRULY disconnecting. No phones, no TV, no internet, no knowledge of the news. It's healing to make that kind of escape. And it's sad that few people treasure that. But to each their own.

ITA. So nice to realize that there are kindred souls out there. I love DC, it's my home, but I feel so hyper-connected here. I'm really "at peace" in the summer, when my family is in upstate NY at our cottage on one of the Finger Lakes. I'm blissfully unaware of what's going on in the news, don't watch TV, check email maybe twice a week at the library in town. I feel so rested and connected to what's IMPORTANT... my family, nature, the water, the rising and setting of the sun. It is healing as you said, PP. And it's such a stark contrast from my normal life, but I love it. As I grow older I feel like I need more of these Walden/Thoreau types of escapes. Def no posting to FB during this time. I fear that this type of respite is foreign concept to most busy busy busy go go go Americans.

Welcome to the age when people cannot disconnect. Ever. It used to be that you'd go on vacation for a week or two and your only contact with the world you left behind was sending a postcard. Now, when even state and national parks are adding wi-fi, it's getting very hard for people to not be tempted to get online. Heck, I've never been able to understand the throngs of people who go to to a beach house for a week and sit and watch Direct TV, get online, play video games, etc. Why not just sit at home and do that? People don't understand the benefits of TRULY disconnecting. No phones, no TV, no internet, no knowledge of the news. It's healing to make that kind of escape. And it's sad that few people treasure that. But to each their own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Just to be clear--I love seeing vacation pictures. I just don't understand the motivation to be on facebook when you finally get the chance to actually spend some uninterrupted time with your family. Maybe some of you get to go on so many vacations that it's no big deal, but for me the opportunity to NOT interact with other people is half the point of a vacation. Even if my kid was super cute that day or the sunset was awesome, I'd rather take the few days I have to just enjoy that with my family. I will post the pics when I get home. I just can't thinking that if you're on FB while you're away with your family, you are thinking more about sharing and portraying your trip than you are about being on it.

But, OP, isn't when you are on vacation when you have a few minutes of downtime to do things like post on FB? I don't have anybody on my friends list who posts tons of pictures while on vacation, but one or two photos uploaded from your phone (which is probably also your only camera device) to show grandma and grandpa what's going on doesn't seem like it takes very much time away from your vacation. I think it boils down to how you use FB. I also think that not everyone defines "family" the same way that you do. You seem to have a very nuclear family-centric understanding of family. For someone who is part of a very interconnected extended family, they might want to share more with other family members than you do. To each his/her own.

OP here. I'm actually super-connected to my extended family. That's actually why I so treasure the time I get alone with my nuclear family. As much as I love keeping up with friends and relatives, if I get 5 days alone with my husband and kids with nothing to do but have fun together (which happens once or twice a year at best, unfortunately), I'm not interested in sharing it with ANYBODY else. We tell them about it when we get home.

So then you should be able to understand that not every family operates the same way that yours does. You need a break from your extended family and a chance to catch up with your nuclear family. Others need a chance to slow down and catch up with more distant relatives by sending updates to their family. The point is not every family is the same. Just because someone is different from you doesn't mean that their actions must be inferior. The fact that they post on FB while on vacation is not necessarily a sign of personal weakness. Its very odd how you seem unable to put yourself in any one else's shoes and see how they might have different vacation habits from you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Just to be clear--I love seeing vacation pictures. I just don't understand the motivation to be on facebook when you finally get the chance to actually spend some uninterrupted time with your family. Maybe some of you get to go on so many vacations that it's no big deal, but for me the opportunity to NOT interact with other people is half the point of a vacation. Even if my kid was super cute that day or the sunset was awesome, I'd rather take the few days I have to just enjoy that with my family. I will post the pics when I get home. I just can't thinking that if you're on FB while you're away with your family, you are thinking more about sharing and portraying your trip than you are about being on it.

But, OP, isn't when you are on vacation when you have a few minutes of downtime to do things like post on FB? I don't have anybody on my friends list who posts tons of pictures while on vacation, but one or two photos uploaded from your phone (which is probably also your only camera device) to show grandma and grandpa what's going on doesn't seem like it takes very much time away from your vacation. I think it boils down to how you use FB. I also think that not everyone defines "family" the same way that you do. You seem to have a very nuclear family-centric understanding of family. For someone who is part of a very interconnected extended family, they might want to share more with other family members than you do. To each his/her own.

OP here. I'm actually super-connected to my extended family. That's actually why I so treasure the time I get alone with my nuclear family. As much as I love keeping up with friends and relatives, if I get 5 days alone with my husband and kids with nothing to do but have fun together (which happens once or twice a year at best, unfortunately), I'm not interested in sharing it with ANYBODY else. We tell them about it when we get home.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Just to be clear--I love seeing vacation pictures. I just don't understand the motivation to be on facebook when you finally get the chance to actually spend some uninterrupted time with your family. Maybe some of you get to go on so many vacations that it's no big deal, but for me the opportunity to NOT interact with other people is half the point of a vacation. Even if my kid was super cute that day or the sunset was awesome, I'd rather take the few days I have to just enjoy that with my family. I will post the pics when I get home. I just can't thinking that if you're on FB while you're away with your family, you are thinking more about sharing and portraying your trip than you are about being on it.

But, OP, isn't when you are on vacation when you have a few minutes of downtime to do things like post on FB? I don't have anybody on my friends list who posts tons of pictures while on vacation, but one or two photos uploaded from your phone (which is probably also your only camera device) to show grandma and grandpa what's going on doesn't seem like it takes very much time away from your vacation. I think it boils down to how you use FB. I also think that not everyone defines "family" the same way that you do. You seem to have a very nuclear family-centric understanding of family. For someone who is part of a very interconnected extended family, they might want to share more with other family members than you do. To each his/her own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I post about what we had for dinner, you come here to bitch about it.

If I post about my workout you will complain too. And I should remember that if I post about my child's accomplishments you'll call me a brag.

You know what? If you don't want to hear from me - on vacay or not, just unsubscribe or delete me. Even better, just delete your account if you think people's posts are so useless.

But WHY would you post about your dinner or your workout in the first place? I don't get it. Why is the utterly mundane deemed notable these days? WTF cares? Everyone is so obsessed with their own navel gazing nonsense. It's ridiculous.

PP you quoted here... If you're that anti-social what are you doing in a social networking website anyway?

FB is for SHARING YOUR INTERESTS... if you don't want to hear about mine you're welcome to defriend me, unsubscribe from my feeds and even block me. Seems like you're hanging out with the wrong crowd, grandma

Lemme guess... you're the boring "friend." Do you post the time and size of your daily BM, too?

OP here. Just to be clear--I love seeing vacation pictures. I just don't understand the motivation to be on facebook when you finally get the chance to actually spend some uninterrupted time with your family. Maybe some of you get to go on so many vacations that it's no big deal, but for me the opportunity to NOT interact with other people is half the point of a vacation. Even if my kid was super cute that day or the sunset was awesome, I'd rather take the few days I have to just enjoy that with my family. I will post the pics when I get home. I just can't thinking that if you're on FB while you're away with your family, you are thinking more about sharing and portraying your trip than you are about being on it.

NP here. I do understand the point of social media. Its so people like I can capitalize off of your narcissim and stupidity. Other than that, no I don't understand why people feel the need to share what their dinner burp smelled like but keep on doing it. Pardon the typos.

I don't post on facebook. I just joined to judge those of you who do. Kudos to those who don't brag daily. Good news is welcome happily as long as you aren't painting a picture that doesn't exist. (You know who yoyu are). I don't mind hearing about your workouts. I get jealous of some of the meals you make though. I enjoy vacation photos, but also wonder why on earth anyone would post DURING a vacation. I don't mind if you post bad news to get some sympathy and empathy, but please no cryptic posts and no daily kvetching. (you know who you are.) Baby photos are always welcome as are cute kid photos even if posted DURING a vacation, I'll give you a pass. That is all..

People make too much about FB. As long as you are not being an a**hole, insulting others, I don't really care what you post. I am happy if people are posting and sharing. I don't really have anyone antisocial on my friends list who would to to rip apart others for their harmless posts. Otherwise, if you are so rude about it, don't bother being on FB at all. Or are you just looking for something to complain about? Seems so.