I used to think it was just me. Like, maybe I have one of those faces that makes people want to share every little tidbit of their lives with me. However, after the last couple of years of being steadily online and suffering the same phenomenon, I just don’t know. People love to share with me. In person it’s usually just me, but online it’s the whole world. When I worked, I was in a customer service position and though I wasn’t a bartender, or psychiatrist, I often felt I should be paid as one. Rarely a day went by that I didn’t learn some seriously personal information about a complete stranger. Why?! I don’t know. People just like to tell me things.
Online it’s even worse. Facebook already tells us everyone’s ages, birthdays, and locations. I can discover favorite foods, TV shows, and sports teams. However, the culture of over-sharing created by online social networks now has me going through emotional upheaval daily. Every single day someone out there gives me bad news. Death, illness, some form of loss. It’s never ending. There are plenty of jokes and good news announcements too. I’m just curious as to why we all share so much of ourselves with people we will never meet face-to-face. Is it the promise of anonymity? Does that make us feel safer? I guess so. I’m guilty of making pretty personal announcements from time to time too, but the really gut-wrenching things, ya’ll will never know.