Hello! Welcome to SocialMum.com. We’re so glad you stopped by. We wanted to share a bit about the writers for Social Mum. There are five bloggers contributing to this site. We are all girlfriends and moms, living across the United States. Our children are all different ages, from four to 28.
Some of us are more outspoken than the others. Yet, we all believe there are some things you shouldn’t say, especially on social media… hence, our name: Social Mum. It also stands for all the mums and moms working hard to raise their families while keeping up with the busyness of everything.
We hope you enjoy our musings about being a mom and raising kids in this digital age.
We write a lot about how adults use social media, particularly Facebook — our favorite. We’re all active on Instagram and Pinterest too. Some of us are also on Twitter, Snapchat, Reddit, TikTok and the other social platforms, learning the inner workings and norms. But really, it’s hard to keep up with it all.
We are sort of obsessed with social behaviors and hope some of our posts will resonate with you. As girlfriends and moms, we try to relate with what people go through on social media and how it works its way into our actual, real lives.
Of course, social media is great at times but other times, it brings us down. Sometimes our feelings get hurt. It’s common to see things we aren’t invited to or posts we’re not included in. It sometimes feels like everyone has a better life than we do! We’ve learned it’s common to feel this way at times.
There’s pettiness on social media too. People unfriend and block each other. They withhold Likes. It’s interesting to see who Likes your posts but more interestingly, who rarely does. Some moms are competing with you, and you might not even know it!
There’s often more than meets the eye, isn’t there? Sometimes there is overt drama but most often there are subtle power plays and mind games such as not accepting your friend request.
At times we take a break from Facebook and the others.
Why we started socialmum.com
We hope you will feel the way we do on some topics. Laugh with us! Perhaps we can offer some insight or help you to feel less alone.
There’s lots to deal with regarding social media: mind games, power plays, someone having the upper hand, etc.
One day a few of us got to talking about social media and how we never really like to acknowledge one of our mutual Facebook friend’s posts. Each one of us purposely didn’t like her post because we find her to be too perfect, too popular, and too boastful in her posts. After disclosing this to each other — You do that too?! — we decided to come together to blog about it.
We knew if all five of us felt this way about one too perfect mean mom with her 1,000 Facebook friends, gorgeous husband and kids, and a seemingly perfect life… others were doing this too. It was interesting to discuss underlying things happening on social media that no one talks about.
Why do we post and comment? Do we need attaboys? Attention? Appreciation? Are we bored or lonely seeking a connection? What makes us give a Like to this person’s post but never to that person’s post?
Yet, aren’t we all trying our very best in this amped-up age of socializing online? In many ways social media is great, but in other ways, it isn’t.
We try to find that delicate balance of being a part of something while realizing it’s also a bit of a show.
Us mums are in this together. So cozy up on the couch, stay in bed a little longer, or procrastinate whatever you should be doing, and know you are not alone. Hopefully you will relate to much of what we notice and write about.
We are the Social Mums…
Shelly Peel
One of the primary contributors to this site, Shelly is a mum with three cubs. Facebook has been a blessing, enabling her to keep up with friends near and far. Shelly loves reading, organizing, running with her husband, exercising with her family, Zooming with family across the country, watching Netflix, wine tasting, shopping, driving her kids to activities, and finding new coffees. She loves retreating to her families’ cottage on the lake to get away from it all.
She enjoys social media for the ease in being able to stay in contact with so many people, saying Happy Birthday on Facebook, and learning new things from her friends’ posts. Shelly is having lots of fun with friend and family reunions through Google Meets and Zoom.
Shelly and some of her lovely girlfriends started www.SocialMum.com because they were often noticing people sharing lots of info on Facebook. So much so that they started texting each other: Mum please! From there, they created this site.
Sheila
As one of the founders of SocialMum.com, Sheila has a journalism background. She now works from home, editing educational and financial journals. Forever involved in her kids’ schools, she has three teens and two rescue dogs, and lives in the east coast.
She’s travels each summer to spend time with her family in Europe and has traveled to four continents. While home, she volunteers at a community garden, knits, is in two book clubs, is a mastermind at finding good deals, and tries to keep up with her busy kids. She’s a whiz at crosswords and suduko. She writes a lot about ways to limit electronics and ways to keep kids occupied over the summer.
Liz
Liz contributes to socialmum.com and has other blogs as well. She has three children, middle school to post college. She and her family have moved a lot. They’ve been involved with 20 schools to date. Read her posts about getting involved in your child’s school and making and keeping mom friends when you move.
She was lucky enough to visit all 50 states by the time she was 43 years old. She’s been to many countries as well. Liz is close with her amazing family and friends throughout the US. One of her BFF’s she met in preschool!
She loves playing games with her family, walking, reading, keeping up with faraway friends, and eating gluten free. During quarantine she is learning more about gardening and baking. She’s on the endless pursuit of being more organized.
Kate
An avid reader and writer, Kate contributes to various websites across the land with her humor and wit. She lives in the Denver area with her clan of kids, her husband, and five dogs. She has moved a lot with her family and has learned tons from the experience, mostly about who is who wherever she blossoms.
Kate is amazing at adapting to whatever comes her way. She is no-nonsense and will tell it like it is. She credits her advanced psychology degree with her ability to read people and their motives. In particular, she’s interested in bragging and humblebragging and people showing off.
Jennie
There’s Jennie who finds humor in the mundane and brings a love of statistics and irony to her posts. You will find her substituting at her children’s school, gardening, or hanging out online. She’s recently started keeping bees and has three hives. She is a part time realtor, very involved with her kids, takes care of aging parents, and travels each year to spend time with her nieces and nephews.
She writes about easy ways to break the Facebook habit and how to delete Reddit account and is amazing at time management.
Jennie enjoys traveling to National Parks with her family. She’s exceptionally social and loves bringing people together with her annual block party, her monthly book club, a bunco group, and a weekly walking group with her friends and neighbors. She pays attention to how dynamics shift when people hang out with different people. Her friends know she blogs for socialmum.com and often share stories with her.
Love us with your Likes
We welcome your ideas and love reading about extraordinary Facebook posts and other social media posts you’ve seen. So please email us at mum@socialmum.com to share your what you’ve seen in your Newsfeed.
We love all things Facebook and would love to know how it plays a role in your life. Please Like us on Facebook too. After all, we love to get more Likes!
Mum’s the word!