To detest FAMILY day out, FAMILY meal, FAMILY fun!

[lulucappuccino]

Why do some people use the word "Family" to describe everyday activities?

I come across it on MN, Facebook and often irl.

I mean, the kind of families who do everything together anyway.

"Oh, we had a great family holiday". You never go on holiday separately and haven't for fifteen years.

"I made a really tasty pasta bake. #familymealtimes." As opposed to any other type of meal you ever have.

"We enjoy family day outs at the local arboretum."

Etc, etc.

Don't get me started on "Quality time".

I'm going to have some quality family time now, mumsnetting.

so what's the point of a hashtag?

Exactly!!

It is all so self-conscious, and that is not the route to happiness.

I love you all. Can't be arsed with the saccharine sweet, gushy social media shite. #bitter #twisted #sarcastic #real

It's the same sort of people who photograph their food. It's "NOM NOM" people.

It's a smugness in the banal, run of the mill, inanity.

Hashtags on facebook? Never seen this. Why do people do that? I thought hashtags were for twitter - to make the tweet visible to people who are interested in the topic but don't follow you or something. But facebook doesn't work like that (I don't think? Maybe if you've left your profile open it might??) so what's the point of a hashtag

Oh wow, forget the above, I was completely wrong. You can use a hashtag on facebook to work exactly like it does on twitter. I just tested it and put #makingmemories into the search bar and got dozens of posts from complete strangers coming up. And loads of them have multiple thousands of likes and hundreds of comments. I don't really know why anyone would want their facebook so public (twitter is pretty anonymous and business-y so a bit different I think) but each to their own I guess.

You learn something new every day!

We did beer runs at uni and that was 30 years ago, so school runs, supermarket runs etc are perfectly normal phrasing to me.

I will also talk about family holidays or family meals as those specifically means we are all together, a fairly rare event occurrence with DC who are rapidly growing up. DS(14) had three holidays last year without us, DD(11) had one and I've taken the DC away without DH. When we all go away together, I do think of it as a family holiday.

I don't do hashtags, though.

Exactly foutis. Bit try hard. lulu I've no idea why you were accused of being bitter! I have a lovely life and a gorgeous family (thank God) but it still irritates the fuck out of me. The 'Good Times!' thing on FB drove me to de-friend an old school acquaintance who used that phrase ad nauseum - that and the fact that she was always banging on about only giving her children wooden toys and her only updates were about household appliances and how great or otherwise they were. Fuckin ell. #twee

Thank you for this thread OP!

The fb hashtags are toenail curling.

I think this use of 'family' is code for 'closed system'. Or that the people doing this are clinging to the idea of what family should be. Something to hide behind too?

Family Christmas used to mean with grandparents and other relatives as opposed to just your parents and siblings.

Yes OP, I prefer to name the activity itself, have never used the word family in this way and was when 'doing the school run' became a thing as I'd always just taken my children to school.

Jesus wept! Read the op, Noofly - you are in a different situation!

I hate "as a family". What's wrong with we all went out together?

Maybe you should have bolded everyday activities !

Thinking of my friends and acquaintances, it those who:
Love shabby shit
Cupcakes are exciting
Prosecco is the height of sophistication

Hopefully Family Fun, Feeling Blessed and Making Memories are also dying fads

Yes, "As a family" - you mean "together".

If you consciously have to do an everyday activity "as a family", maybe you should address that, rather than feeling pseudo smug.

My sister often posts "feeling blessed" but without the hashtag bit. I see and and start feeling irate and then remember she actually means she feels blessed by God as her faith means an awful lot to her... but I agree with whoever it was who said that most people use it to actually mean #feelingsmug

#fuckrightoffwiththehashtags

#feelingblessediditchedfacebook

Irrelevant tangent - reminds me of the time I'd searched for a singer on youtube and selected something where she said she wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Spain. Now I know you can do such a thing but my first thought was "the rest of us call it 'going on holiday' ".

Is there a hashtag for "went away for a long weekend and didn't take a single picture nor post anything on FB"?

#philomissedthepoint #familyhashtags #lookwereafamily #arealfamily #doingfamilythings #asafamily #hashtagsmakeitreal

I haven't missed the point. You find something irritating and I don't

If you consciously have to do an everyday activity "as a family", maybe you should address that, rather than feeling pseudo smug

I am sure I have lots of things about my parenting. I don't feel smug because I am aware that there is lots I could do better

I hate anyone who uses # unless it's a real hashtag on Twitter, FFS!! I particularly hate #nofilter on selfies 😡😡

Your thread is the reason I stopped lurking and actually posted (that and being forced by MNHQ to register so I could continue to browse - perhaps they wanted me to join the #mnfamilam?). I thought IWBVU and a bit mean for hating this crap. Seems I'm not!

Reminds me of when I explained to an old uni friend I didn't put pictures of my girls on Facebook because they were too ugly.