I learned recently that Mumsnet is 25 years old, and my immediate reaction was: who the hell is still using Mumsnet? And then I read that Mumsnet has nine million unique users every month, and my immediate reaction was: who the hell are these people?
According to Mumsnet, they’re almost all women, but I don’t seem to know any of them. I’ve never used Mumsnet, and when I conducted some forensically accurate research, I struggled to find any friends who are well acquainted with it. One friend amuses herself occasionally with how middle-class the posts can be, with lots of queries about Eton and sneering at double-barrelled designer baby names. And it can certainly be funny: the infamous ‘penis beaker’ thread is a case in point (though it left me wondering, in my well-adjusted fashion, why and how other women so relish discussing sex with such wince-inducing candour – even buoyed by online anonymity).
Most of the people I asked don’t use it either because they’d rather ask for advice directly from someone they respect and trust, or because they can find the information they’re after on ChatGPT.
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