zooming away

Zoom meetings with family can be a great way to bring people together or drive a wedge between them. We tried a Zoom meeting with my mother and brother on Christmas day. It was tense and awkward. Then three days later, I got a phone call from my mother with admonishments about how the meeting went and how distant my teenaged children were and how we talked over each other (hello Zoom). My children apparently need to learn social norms and my husband and I need to learn how to make small talk. Mom wants to not do that again. I wholeheartedly agree.