<p>I’m really feeling like a fuddy-duddy. Neither my H or I have FB accounts. We are close friends with several couples. Only one couple uses FB. We are all in our late 50’s or early 60’s. I did find some statistics online that broke down FB use by age group. Here it is:</p>
<p>FB is how I keep in touch with my relatives on the other side of the country. I’ve watched the photos as my niece restored a sports car for show, the remodels my brother does for his job, the move-in of another niece and see the amazing food my sister makes. We all use the chat feature, and it’s a lot better than sending real photos in the mail as of old. </p>
<p>H and I have gotten many discounts and notices of sales for businesses we’ve “liked” and we follow some celebrities’ pages (George Takei is hysterical). I love FB. </p>
<p>MY 28 yo son won’t use it, and his father, a programmer, doesn’t either. But most everyone I know-of any age-has an account-I’m talking 20’s-70’s, of all walks of life, education and job skills.</p>
<p>aquamariesea, it’s probably prevalent here largely because of keeping up with kids.</p>
<p>My 94 year old grandmother is on facebook. Since she doesn’t get out, and can’t take many visitors, it’s a great way for her to keep up with what everyone is doing and see everybody. She can tell you what is up with EVERYBODY!!! LOL.</p>
<p>I’m on FB and so are most of my friends. We play Words With Friends. Also, for my friends who are grandparents, it lets them see all the cute pics of their grand kids without kids having to send them as attachments in emails.</p>
<p>S2 is not much of a phone talker and the cel coverage is lousy. We have a once a week, proof of life, skype date on Sunday’s. It’s worked wonderfully. He’ll text when he’s up and set up a time that suits his schedule. We’ll chat for 30-45 min. His brothers will say hello, and he always wants to see the dog. We usually see and say hello to a roommate or two. Other then that he’ll text a couple of times throughout the week. If something is on his mind he might call to talk. I never call him unless there is something super urgent, and then I text and ask him to call me when he’s free. I’ll text him if there’s something funny on his fb. As other’s have said, you don’t comment on the wall too often for fear of getting blocked. He’s fb friends with grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc., so he either blocks certain things or keeps it clean. I assume we will start with the 1/week Skype when his brother launches in fall 2014 and make adjustments from there.</p>
<p>Neither H nor I are on Facebook. I spend enough time on the computer as it is without adding something else! </p>
<p>D (24) calls once a week to talk to both of us, and she and I exchange lots of emails during the week. It’s been that way since she went to college. </p>
<p>S (junior in college) calls me a few times a week while walking to or from class, so they’re short calls just to say hi, but always welcome. He’ll also call one evening a week to have a longer talk with H, usually revolving around sports.</p>
<p>No facebook, no texts. Email mostly an exchange of funny youtube links, new historical discoveries, or photos of awesome shoe closets, and the occasional heads up about a package. DD calls when she needs help making a decision (courses, shoes, what to write in a cover letter); sometimes that’s every three weeks, sometimes twice in one week. I call only when I’m on route to pick her up.</p>
<p>Neither my wife nor I have a Facebook account. We discourage our children from using Facebook, and caution them to never post photos or comments that they would not wear on their forehead in public 24 hours a day for the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>We hear from D once or twice a week, almost always by text. When she was a freshman, we tried to establish once-a-week Skype dates, but those were too formal for us, and especially for her. I think it was the whole “making a date” aspect of it that she disliked; it felt like since we’d all gone to the trouble of clearing our calendars we’d better have important stuff to say, and lots of it. </p>
<p>We’ve found that quick, spontaneous contact works better for us, and we’ve also found that communication is more frequent and more pleasant if we let her take the lead as to mode and timing. Besides texting, we also have the occasional phone call usually prompted by a text received. Recently she texted me that she and her friends had just won the Cake Contest, whereupon I immediately called to get the lowdown. It was a fun, unplanned, 5-minute conversation – perfect for us. </p>
<p>We do still Skype once or twice a semester, but honestly, it feels a bit forced. For us, it’s not a good venue for heart-to-hearts; those must be in person.</p>
<p>D1: Several times a day. Often called as she walked between classes, so the calls didn’t last long. She’d start talking about something and then call later to finish her story. For what it’s worth, most describe this girl as smart/active on campus/highly independent. She just likes to chat and knows she can find a ready audience at home - someone interested in “all about her.” </p>
<p>Son: Called anywhere from a week to three weeks. I always felt that he checked in only because he knew he needed to do so. </p>
<p>D2: Faithfully once a day, usually in the evening - on rare occasions, an additional call during the day. Calls - long or short, depending.</p>
<p>I rarely call or text them. I do so only when I need to know/tell something that can’t wait.</p>
<p>I think you share your life with people you care about. Phone calls connect you, and, as long as it’s simple and fun, I don’t think you need to worry about the frequency. Sometimes I hear about their day, sometimes we discuss a TV show we all watch, and sometimes it’s nothing more than a “hi, all’s good, talk to you tomorrow.” I found I had less to say to my son who called infrequently than my daughters who called often. They might ask about a movie I saw the day before … I might ask how something in class turned out. My son and I didn’t have those conversational gambits when he called and it made it harder.</p>
<p>I agree with ignatius. At first I felt weird admitting I text my two daughters (or they text me) multiple times per day. But it isn’t to check up – it’s to laugh over something the pets did, a TV show, something we read, something we observed while people watching. It would see artificial for us not to do so. If I didn’t hear from my daughters in a week, I would assume something was seriously wrong, because that would be out of character within our family.</p>
<p>I agree with above - my daughter and I call, email, or text about stuff that is happening - to share funny anecdotes etc. So it can be several times a day or if nothing happens we can skip a day. If she has a problem to work out that she wants to discuss - we may talk back and forth a bunch of times in a few hours.</p>
<p>I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like if my D completely cut me off especially since she’s our only child. I’m so very sorry this has happened to you. My heart goes out to you.</p>
<p>EK-I sent you a PM as my ex and D are going through this right now and I’m kind of in the middle. Didn’t see the need to put put it on this thread.</p>