The holiday season is a time to enjoy good food while spending time with the ones you love. However, a growing number of adults are choosing to spend their time alone, as many have intentionally gone “no contact” with their families. On a recent episode of Oprah Winfrey’s podcast, folks are sharing the reasons for this very choice, and social media had a lot to say about Oprah’s take.
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Oprah, famously known for her influential conversations on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” now hosts “The Oprah Podcast,” which recently featured a live audience episode titled “Oprah Explores The Rising Trend of Going No Contact With Your Family.” The open forum allowed individuals to speak candidly about their decisions to cut ties with their parents and other relatives.
“Maybe you all can relate to this growing phenomenon known as going no contact,” Oprah begins. “That’s when a person cuts off ties to someone in their family.” She goes on to share a statistic from Cornell University that “one third of Americans are actively estranged from their family members.”
After hearing from a few audience members, Oprah adds, “Some experts believe that there is a shift in how the younger generation are protecting their mental health or their boundaries which have led to a silent epidemic.” She explains that for many, family relationships have become toxic, pushing them to distance themselves for the sake of their peace.
While the conversation resonated with many, others took issue with Oprah’s use of the word “trend,” calling it dismissive and even triggering for those who chose to go no contact, a decision that is often serious and often emotionally painful.
“For one, the word ‘trend’ was horribly, terribly irresponsible to continue to use in advertising this,” TikTok creator Nicki Alexia explained. “No one is going ‘no contact’ because ‘hmm, my parents pissed me off and I see other kids are doing it so let me do it too.’” She went on to say that positioning it as a trend feels dismissive and minimizes real emotional harm.
“Calling it a trend when some of us choose to go no contact was the only way to save ourselves,” a TikTok user commented.
“Right message, wrong messenger” became a consistent sentiment, with some saying Oprah’s approach was tone-deaf, especially with Oprah admitting that she was estranged from her own mother for several years. TikTok creator @boundariesbestie shared her thoughts on why the term felt dismissive:
“You know my main takeaway from this whole Oprah thing is that we’ve been swallowing gruel, taking shit from our parents for so long and our parents did it for so long, that actually stepping away and healing looks like a trend,” she said.
She concluded, “No contact is not a trend, it’s a last resort.”
Yet, not everyone was as critical. Some viewers felt Oprah handled the discussion thoughtfully.
“I saw it. I thought Oprah was neutral,” one Facebook user wrote. “I wish she had helped to bridge the distance by giving advice, but I thought she was neutral the entire show.”
Over on X, others praised the episode for bringing visibility to a difficult but necessary conversation.
One user wrote:
Another wrote:
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