God, I love my parents. They have a great amount of knowledge about so many aspects of life. The list of talents and skills they possess could go on forever, however, one thing that most definitely would not be on that list is their understanding of using social media, which my parents can also attest to. No matter how many times I try to explain to them the proper way to use Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, they always find a new way to make me laugh with their erroneous way of using their social media accounts. I decided to list out a few things that my parents do when they use social media, assuming that a lot of parents out there may be guilty of the same things.
1. Trying To Zoom In On Instagram
Mom, I promise you, no matter how many times you put those two fingers to the screen, that Instagram picture will not get any bigger.
2. Liking Every Individual Picture In Their Kid's Facebook album
I don't think my parents realize that there is an option to like the whole album, letting us know that they like each picture, while not physically liking each separate photo. The best part -- every single friend in my pictures get 50 new notifications from my dad, since they were tagged in my pictures.
3. Post Something By Mistake
We have all gotten that call from one of our parents at 10 P.M. having a panic attack because they accidentally posted something they didn't mean to post and don't know how to remove it. "Mom, click delete."
4. Improperly Use Hashtags
Between using an excessive amount of hashtags, putting hashtags in random parts of the status or my personal favorite, using @ for a hashtag, the usage of hashtags are just a complicated thing for parents to understand. (Also funny for us kids to see!)
5. Liking Pictures That Are Years Old
When Dad decides to like a picture from five years ago, not only is he revealing how deep of a stalking session he was having, but also, now that picture of me with braces and my bright blue eyeshadow is all over everyone's timeline to remind them of how heinous I looked in middle school.
6. Having Full-On Conversations In the Comment Section
I get it, sometimes someone replies to your comment and you feel the need to respond back, that's great and all, until it turns into a full-on conversation in the comment section and everyone that is part of the post you are commenting on gets 30 notifications because you wanted to catch up with your old friend from high school. A phone call to this person instead could be the fix.
7. Friending Everyone
Parents are often very outgoing people and love being in the loop with everyone they know and keep in touch through social media, but is it really necessary to friend your daughter's friend's sister's boyfriend's mom?
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As much as us kids complain about how our parents are acting on social media, at the end of the day, we secretly love it. It gives us something to laugh about and something to bond over with other kids whose parents are the same way. On top of that, our parents are always our biggest fans, so we can always count on them for that extra like that we need on our Instagram pic or that share on our recent blog post. Keep doing your social media thing, parents!
