Five reasons you should NOT friend your parents on Facebook

Every now and again, I witness such a complete social faux pas online that I have to stop and pinch myself. Is this for real, I ask? Did that person actually friend their mother on Facebook? And, as I scan down their “wall” and have a good belly-jiggling chuckle, I can’t help but want to save others from this demise (including myself, should I suffer a weak moment).

So, for those of you who don’t have the common sense to not friend your parents on Facebook, please repeat after me the “Five reasons you should NOT friend your parents on Facebook.”

“In friending my parents on Facebook, my parents (or their friends) will likely:

• Make slightly off-colour (and very public) remarks about my friends with “foreign” sounding names;
• Ask about events that I’m attending (like all-night Brit-pop dance parties) and enquire if they should come as my chaperon;
• Boldly and unnecessarily defend my honour when people disagree with my comments or postings, as if I were being attacked by bullies in a school yard;
• Upload incredibly embarrassing photos of my childhood and tag me in all of them;
• Finally, and most importantly, there are just some things that my parents should not know about my life.”</i>

(I’ll add a sixth: Because some hip, online strategy, super-star friend of yours could write a slightly-questionable blog post like this one!)

Have your own list of reasons not to friend your parents on Facebook or other social networks? Other examples of breaking the “no parents” rule? Please drop them in the comments. All in good fun! (Love you, Doug.)