Do you share too much of your life publicly? A couple articles I recently read (We All Live In Public Now. Get Used To It and Year in Review: narcissism, stress in psych news spotlight) got me thinking on this topic.
It wasn't too long ago that (unless you were some sort of celebrity) we lived settled, hum-drum, unmentioned lives. We shared with friends and family in our little circles, and rarely ventured beyond. We shared intimate details with only those close to us.
Now, it seems people are willing to share anything and everything with everyone. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have given people a platform to sound off, and, boy, are people sounding off. Sounding off too much.
The line between simple "updates" and sharing too much is fine. It's increasingly difficult to define what too much to share is. But, I think you know it when you see it. We have all streamed through our social network feeds and, at some point or another, read an update and thought, "Huh, did I really need, or want, to know that...?"
The funny thing is, we are all narcissistic updaters. We think our updates are great and everyone wants, or needs, to know what we are posting, but we think the other guy is posting too much. It's kind of like the fat guy that looks in the mirror and thinks he's ripped, but everyone know he's just a fat guy.
Do I really need to know you lost your job and your wife is leaving you? Do I really need to know exactly what your are doing every minute of the day? Do I care you just woke up and are making coffee?
Truthfully, I don't. Give me something of substance. Help me to learn something new.
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3 comments:
I tell personal info to other people all the time. I figure I need to point out my flaws before they can do it.
Ah, I guess you're not impressed that I informed my facebook friends that I was in the hospital :) It's okay, to each his own. I have a lot of real life friends on there too, and a lot of relatives. Seemed like a good venue to explain my long absence. Besides, a lot of people were praying for me, and I believe in the power of prayer. I don't need to know someone personally to accept a kind thought from them.
I was telling my family about resolutions and how I told you that my only goal was to leave 2010 healthier than I went in. I guess I set the bar nice and low for that one!!!
Take care, keep writing, it is very enjoyable :)
Love,
Claudia
i don't mind that you posted that at all, claudia. fb is a good way to get information out to a lot of people. i hope that when i read my thread i am learning something useful. that's not always the case. knowing that you were in the hospital was very useful.
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