WEEK 6 – Social Media

 WEEK 6 – Social Media

“Social Media” today rules most people’s lives in relation to things like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email, messenger and more. I for one am very guilty of this. However, if you go back even just 25-30years most of this wasn’t around and I’m pretty sure that many of my ancestors would be shocked at these platforms and what is on them. Don’t get me wrong my ancestors were far from innocent people but most were of a well-to-do family upbringing and as my Nan used to say “don’t go airing your dirty washing in public” and this is exactly what happens on modern day “social media”. 


I have made use of “social media” platforms linked to family history and I have added “random cousins” I’ve made contact with, and I’ve also used it linked to information gathering on “local” groups linked to where my ancestors lived. So it can be quite useful to help.

Stepping aside from modern “social media” platforms lets go back to the past. “Social media” for many people was in the form of telephones (fixed to a wall and not in your hand) of which you shared the gossip with one person. Or it was in the local newspaper where any gossip was shared for you (and everyone else) to read. Or it was in the form of hand written letters usually to one person. Linked to this I don’t magically have any old phonecalls. I have a few newspaper articles (most were lost when an old laptop died and I lost everything), nor am I lucky enough to have any hand written letters from ancestors.

However, many years ago I had added some photos to “Social media” of “my Grandad” in his army uniform and named him etc. A cousin saw my photos and declared I was lying, this man wasn’t “our” Grandad and he wasn’t part of the family! She even went as far as speaking to “our Grandparents” about it and the lies I was spreading. She was very shocked to find out that the man indeed WAS “my Grandad” but not “ours” as she stated. No-one had told her that my Mum had a different Dad to her Mum’s Dad. Luckily for me my “step-Grandad” so to speak treated me no differently to his biological grandchildren and was “my Grandad”. So “social media” can cause big problems as much as help.

So, for me, this is where the “social media” story comes to an end.


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