Social-Media Avoidance and Motherhood

I had just seated myself behind a platter of chunky meat and cheese when my brother slapped me with an accusation in front of my cousin-in-law, who was seated to my right, picking at a fruit platter with her bare fingers. “Don’t do anything crazy, or he’ll blog about it.” Those might not have been his exact words – I was chewing up salami and Swiss cheese that had been sitting out all day, rather than practicing my stenography.

In the next room over, my cousin-in-law’s son and daughters had just pulled out Connect Four, which apparently has morphed from a thinking game into a catapult-driven game of pseudo-skill. They play this newfangled version of Connect Four because my cousin-in-law doesn’t know what Farmville is. Her three children were under five when the Facebook craze hit, at which point she opted to spend her spare time making homemade chicken nuggets.

For a time, we discussed whether munchkins turn out better when their parents make homemade meals instead of jumping on social media bandwagons. Then my brother, who also blogs and uses Facebook, abruptly started talking about his plans to win the Second First Annual Chili Cook-Off at his church.