Why Being Friends With Family On Social Media Gets Awkward

They want to show up and support

This is something that everyone struggles with: family members who want to support you but don’t know how. In fact, maybe they even do things that are to your detriment when they think they are being supportive. When I was younger, I had a brief acting career. I made the mistake of sending my stepfather a link to watch a movie I was in. Then, I posted a celebratory Facebook post about the movie making it into a festival, and my stepfather commented on the post, “I saw the movie and, though it had some laughs, I do not personally think it’s very feminist or that women like to be depicted this way in movies. Just my opinion!” He thought it was supportive and that he was being a feminist by critiquing the movie, but he didn’t realize he’d just publicly insulted the writer and director who’d given me an opportunity.