Do you have a family text group?

I have two family Messenger groups. One is my dad, brothers and sisters and it is a mix of family news, jokes and memes. Occasion, there is an argument, usually between my dad and my brothers and I will mute the conversation for a couple of hours when that happens. I also have a chat which is DH, both my sons and my DDiL. It started when DH was in hospital a few years back, and I wanted to be able to keep them all informed and be sure everyone had the same information. These days, it is general chat, and quite a few photos and short videos of my granddaughter.
Most texting or messaging appps let you mute conversations - maybe just put it on mute as you start work. You can do a manual check during break times to make sure you don’t miss anything important.

I am in one with my mother's side of the family - it's for announcements, news, happy holidays, check ins during storms, that sort of thing. There isn't any "what's for dinner" "check out this show" kind of thing.

I'm in one with my 4 siblings. Nothing weird going on, just our usual sibling stuff. We are all super tight.

The main group is me, my Dh, 2 DDs and one Son in Law. Sometimes it's something silly/funny but definitely not "there's a bird at the feeder' type thing   

We also have another one that started when my grandson was born to keep family member up to date with his weight etc...it's still going and now DD posts when he does funny stuff or gets up to his knees in a puddle etc. My Mum in law loves to see him, it keeps her in touch with him and how he's growing up as she hasn't seen him for a year.

The females on my husband’s side do; we send pics, wish happy birthday/holiday, talk about upcoming plans to see each other, text when things remind of of each other. It varies. My family I do individual texts unless we are discussing something specific and making plans.

I see texts as a way to communicate on our own time without inconveniencing anyone; so I would think nothing of texting unimportant things in the middle of the day because no one has to check it until they are ready. And since you can mute the conversation, it seems like nbd to me. If it’s an emergency, they’ll call. If they wouldn’t, perhaps you can send a text that indicates you don’t check texts during the day so please call in case of emergencies. That way you know it’s handled and won’t freak when you look down and see 30 texts.

As far as being petty, it just seems like your sister annoys you and I don’t see that as petty. It does seem odd to text that there is a bird at the feeder without a photo to accompany it. My mom and I would be interested in receiving texts like that, with photo. Just sharing small parts of our day with each other, ya know?

Yes, with my siblings. It's mostly about the care for my mom. Scheduling, health changes, etc.

DH is in one with his family and they talk about everything. He has 6 siblings so it's a lot. I suspect there's a separate sisters only group text that he is mercifully not part of.

I have one with my nephew and his parents, aunt, my mom and his grandma. We generally just text in the and at night. Pictures of goings on, pets, memes, etc. We texted a lot of anti trump stuff too the past year or so as my nephew turned into a political junkie.

I have another one with my parents and siblings. The siblings are all spread apart so it is easiest for us to communicate that way. Lots of pictures in that one. None of us are facebook people, so it is the best way for us to communicate. I do have that one on silent since the hours are so very different for all of us.

I have one with my husband and kids.. we send cartoons, old pictures, comments on current events, whatever. with one kid living overseas.. it is an easy way to keep in touch.

No we don’t unless there’s something we have to plan or someone is sending a bunch of pictures. My brother does text me the most mundane things abs I’ve gotten to the point that I just thumbs them up or do a laugh react on iMessage. It’s irritating but harmless.

We have two family chats: one with just sisters and one with mom and dad. The mom and dad one I have muted because my mom and her favorites (not me) will have love fests and it makes me irrationally stabby. The sister one will go days with nothing and then one of us will start a conversation that goes on for a few hours. I have fun going back and reading those if I'm not in the conversation.

We have one with the kids. We text several times a week with memes, news stories, or family news. Then there’s a big group with my side of the family, another with DH’s side of the family, one with DH and I with our US and Belgian numbers, one with DH, his sister, and FIL, and many others.

I find them incredibly convenient, but did show Dad how to turn off notifications for the family group text. He hates texting and gets annoyed with all the notifications. But then he complains when there’s news shared that he misses!

We sure do. We have an immediately family group-- dh, me, and our two children. 

I also have an extended family chat with my side of the family. My parents, me, my sister, one of my nephews, and one of my dd's. My other dd and and other nephew don't choose to be part, and neither does my dh or BIL. That's totally OK. 

We update with news, and a lot of the time, just dumb things. It's fun, and a connection. We had these chat threads in place long before the pandemic. 

yes, we do have a family text group / thread on our cell phones, and at times, I feel the same way about it as you do about yours.  We've had it going for a couple years now; I have mine set on do-not-disturb, too-- I'll check it if I have time when I happen to see the notifications pop up, or when I notice that it says 8 new messages, or whatever. 

Our group text was started mainly so that my mom (she's 80 yrs old) could feel more involved in what's going on in our lives, since a couple of us (I'll admit it-- it's me and my older brother) are horrible at keeping in touch regularly by phone. My mom doesn't have a smart phone, but my sister set it up so mom could check the text thread on her computer.



Typically ours gets more 'action' on the weekends.  There are 4 adult children in my family; my siblings all live in the Midwest and my DH and I live in AZ, which means the time difference is at least 1 hour, and during the summer, 2 hours (the time difference is part of the reason I have it set on do-not-disturb-- there's nothing quite like getting a text notification at 4 in the morning on a Saturday just because my older sister is an early riser-  ugh!). 

We send photos and little snippets of what's going on-- some of it does seem kind of inane to me, but I have to remember, it's mainly for my mom.  Photos of scenery from being out and about, the weather, pics of our pets (we all have dogs), blurbs about what's been going on lately and what we're cooking, craft projects being worked on, etc.  

My dad passed away last March, and my mom has had a harrowing year of physical and mental health issues including a knee replacement, a re-do knee replacement surgery, a cancer diagnosis, a stint in rehab, broken bones from osteoporosis, etc. so we really do want/need to keep in touch with her now.  We also have a text thread that includes just us kids where we can keep up on what is/was going on with my parents, both physically and mentally, without her being involved.  

As much as it sometimes annoys the crap out of me, overall I do think it's a good thing and has helped us all feel like we're more 'in touch' than we used to be.  Since we live so far away from each other and all have differing work schedules and financial means, we haven't gotten together in one place in at least a few years.

Not us. The closest we come is just DH, the kids and I send an occasional text to all.

I hated group texts so much when I was managing DS's soccer teams that I never embraced using them for anything else.