Share Your Views

[Adrienne]

With today's social media, connectedness is now a way of life. But exactly how much is too much information? Should you be tweeting about your weight loss? Or posting pictures of your kids on your newsfeed?

Let us know your opinion on what you think is too much information.

[booklover]

I am on Facebook and LinkedIn.  I post occasionally, and enjoy seeing what friends are doing.  I probably have less than 10 pictures posted.  My nieces and nephews, on the other hand, have over 1500 pictures each (this is not an exaggeration.)  Some of them are not pictures one would want a prospective employer to see ( yes, they do look.  And no, it's not illegal.)  They are completely comfortable with a much higher level of disclosure than I am -- which seems to be true of many of their peers.  I am very curious to see where all this leads -- will the concept of privacy become redefined as each generation become accustomed to less and less privacy?  Or will the pendulum swing the other way, and will the next generation rebel by fiercely protecting their privacy?  I guess time will tell . . .

[quizfan]

As a member of the "younger generation," I'm familiar with pretty much every social media platform. I grew up with them. And the nice thing about most forms of social media (I'm thinking especially of Facebook here) is that you have complete control over who's seeing those posts and pictures and details about your personal life. If you don't want the world to see pictures of your kids, limit those photo albums to family members only. Etc. The problem is that a lot of people don't understand how this works, either because they haven't been trained or haven't bothered to look at the instructions, so they end up posting private details of their lives to the entire world. There's a website called Openbook where you can search through public status updates from profiles that people have (probably unintentionally) left totally exposed.

On the other hand, even people who know how to limit what they share to the people they want to see it can share too much. We all know people who seem to spend all their time online complaining about their boss, or sharing details of embarrassing illnesses, or publicly arguing with a spouse or family member. It can be very uncomfortable even if they aren't sharing that info by accident. Some people "overshare," I guess; but often times that's no different from the way they behave in real life. The nice thing is that in real life when someone starts giving you "TMI" you usually have to nod and smile until they go away, whereas online you can ignore them!

[scout11]

Quizfan brings up a good point. There are lots of people (myself included) who don't really understand all the ways to protect themselves online with proper settings. For many of us it's a generational thing. But we need people like quizfan to educate us. Thanks!

[quizfan]

I think there ought to be classes people could take on this sort of thing, the way a lot of colleges and community centers offer courses in typing or computer skills. It can be really tricky. I'm familiar with this stuff and I still occasionally get confused by Facebook, for instance, because they keep changing their layout and default privacy settings. Often it feels like I'm racing to catch up.

[scout11]

I like the idea of a class or an educational CD to teach those in need all about social media. You know how they have those Great Courses (or whatever they're called) CDs which are expensive but are apparently quite good? Perhaps quizfan should create some equivalent for social media. If she or he does, please share your royalties with me!