The oversharing of vacation photos

An episode of Black Mirror, it was. That show is how A LOT of people are living their lives in this social media age.

 

She’s nice and I wouldn’t want to hurt her feelings. If it came up organically, I would love to have this conversation with her.

 

Some of responses here sound like it may be a mental illness. If a friend is mentally ill wouldn't you want her to get help?

 

Pretty sure there's a lot of that on instagram now.

 

Guess which app I have on my phone.

 

Just a good ol' boy, never meaning no harm.

 

Mentally ill? I certainly have never gotten that impression. It’s interesting to me that people share so many details of their life in near real time. It’s interesting that I have to battle that impulse, too, at times. It’s interesting that some people do really seem to enjoy seeing it. And it’s also interesting that studies show it brings yet others down.

 

As I look at my friend's feed, it seems like there are at least a core group of people - not that many, but a handful - who are also into travel as a hobby. "Have you been to Sweden yet? We loved Sweden!"

Facebook can be a weird place because you expose a general audience of hundreds of friends and acquaintances to things that are meant for sometimes five or six people who actually care. Cross-fitters are notorious for this, of course. And new parents.

 

The "new parents" label struck a chord with me.

Reminded me of when my Mrs. Burns's brother and his wife had their first child. The whole family attended the baptism and a couple of holiday gatherings, and then at the baby's first birthday party, we were talking off to the side and he said to us, "We are well-aware that the stories and moments parents think are worthy of telling everyone about are not nearly as interesting for others. Just say the word if we get over-the-top."

That level of self-awareness was so refreshing.

 

That is refreshing.

I still laugh thinking about an elevator ride I took years ago with two other guys, strangers to me, but obviously colleagues to each other. One says, "Oh my God, the baby did the most amazing thing last night."

"Oh shit, really? What?"

"She sat up for the first time. Like, all of a sudden, she just figured out how to sit."

Long pause.

"You know, that's really not that amazing. Everything sits."

Longer pause.

I was fucking dying.

 

But what makes Facebook interesting - and as I understand it, you aren't on there, but I think you get the gist - is that there are 10-15 people who probably think it's immensely interesting that the baby sat up. And 500 others who don't. But, like MC said early in the thread, who is forcing them to take note?

And yet I still find oversharing kind of irritating at times.

 

I don’t think I overshare, but I really don’t give a rat’s ass if people get pissy when I post about my kids.

It says way more about them than it does about me.