As a freshman in college, I couldn’t wait to receive my Emerson e-mail account. The sooner I could prove I’d been accepted into college, the sooner I could sign up to Facebook, and the sooner I could befriend hundreds of other incoming freshmen just as nervous as I was to leave their hometown for Beantown. Over the course of four years, however, the social media waves shifted as tweens and teenie boppers joined in, quoting the Jo Bros and Justin Bieber in their Facebook statuses. Although slightly annoying, I could handle the Farmville requests from my twelve-year-old cousin. It was when my father friended me that I had a panic attack. Of course I had to accept him (who could deny their father?), but when I made my Facebook status, “I fear I’m coming down with a cold,” and he called me in a frenzy, I knew my privacy settings would have to be modified.
To the rest of the Her Campus Emerson staff, my situation sounded all too familiar, so we’ve decided to share with you some of our most awkward and embarrassing “Oh no, my parents are on Facebook!” moments.
“My dad likes to take photos from my albums and put them on his Facebook. One time, I had a picture of myself and fellow cheerleaders in uniform at a game because some significantly younger boys asked to get a picture with us. My dad posted this picture to his Facebook with the caption ‘Lorena and her best friends!!!’ Not to mention, he tagged me in it.”
– Lorena Mora, 2012
“I must admit, I take a certain pride in the fact that my grandma is a Facebook pro. Most senior citizens can barely use a cell phone, and my grandma has mastered the art of social networking. Although the level of her ‘cool factor’ is infinitely higher than mine will ever be, there are certain elements of the site that she doesn’t quite grasp, like the status. While most Facebook users update their status according to what they’re doing that day, my grandma seems to think it’s a place for responding to people’s post. Recently I posted, ‘Hi Nan Nan! I’m so excited to see you in Florida-I’m getting the tix right now!’ Minutes later, her status was updated to the following: ‘I’m really excited to see you get those tix, Nik!’ Since then, my grandma’s status has also become a hotspot for grandchild favoritism. Yesterday’s status read, ‘I love Amanda soooooo much!’ I now wonder how I can get back into her status spotlight.”
– Nikki Fig, 2011
“I was at my job between classes when my dad started frantically calling, texting, and e-mailing me over and over and over again. He didn’t mean for what he wrote to sound creepy, but well, it did — especially since it was followed up by the good ‘ole smiley face emoticon. I e-mailed him and explained that he could just roll over the post and press the ‘X’ that would pop up, but he couldn’t figure it out. After he sent me a screenshot and I repeated my directions, he finally got rid of the awkward post!”
– Shana Wickett, 2011
“A Facebook friend of my mother’s wrote on her wall ‘Happy Early Birthday!’ Over a month later, my mom commented on the post writing, ‘Thanks for the birthday wishes! As you can tell, I don’t “get out” much,’ referring to her lack of signing onto her Facebook page. I think her use of the phrase ‘get out’ as a metaphor for keeping up with her Facebook is reason enough for her to stay signed off completely.”
– Marissa Ericson, 2012
“My mother made a Facebook page for my dog and now leaves me comments from my dog saying things like, ‘Woof, woof. I miss you!’ or ‘I would love a bone!’”
– Michelle King, 2013