‘Overshare‘ is officially 2014’s word of the year.
Honestly – I am thrilled since it is a word that not only teens and kids need to become better aware of, but especially adults and parents.
Oversharing, as outlined above, is generally giving too much information about one’s self or others online. Whether you are leaving your home on vacation or giving status updates every fifteen minutes, people seem to have a notion that others are interested in their every second of breathing.
Recently Faith Salie, of CBS Sunday Morning, shared her point of view about oversharing and I found it very interesting. In part she said:
It’s beyond TMI — oversharing is not just too much information; it’s incessant sharing of non-information — breaking news about your gluten-free diet complete with duck face selfies.
We all want to feel special. To my knowledge, there are pretty much two ways to be interesting:
One is to actually do interesting things, achieve the remarkable.
The other way to be interesting is to be interested, curious about the world and about other people — not relentlessly revelatory about yourself.
You can listen to her entire commentary below. It is well worth the few minutes.
Oversharing can lead to a variety of consequences.
Cybercrimes, online bullying, harassment, stalking, as well as emotional anxiety and stress – also known as FOMO – fear of missing out. It seems people of all ages have become addicted to the oversharing concept – and they need to stop and pause about what they are doing.
We now live in a society where you can literally lose a job or a friendship over a Tweet or a post.
You could potentially not be accepted into your college of choice due to your social media profile.
These are now facts.
Your online reputation will dictate your future. It isn’t a maybe anymore. Studies are proving that a digital reputation is your first impression any college or employer or client will read about you. What does Google say about you?
Back to the beginning – I am thrilled that oversharing is now part of our vocabulary. Everyone needs to be extremely conscience of this word – and what they are sharing.
Think and pause before you share a picture or post.
