Wednesday, June 20, 2012

A Question (or 38) For You

We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.
 - Lloyd Alexander


Can I ask you a question? Or thirty-eight?

Do you ever wonder about a subject, unable to find any clear answers?

Can I share a topic I've been pondering lately? All in the form of questions since I don't have any answers?

Where is the line between maintaining a sense of privacy and letting others into your life enough to be able to connect?

How much online sharing (Facebook, Twitter, Blogging) is too much?

Is there a danger in sharing too much? Do the details of my life really need to be out there for all to see? If I share those details with the world, does that make the events less special for me? For those involved in the event in real life? Am I cheapening my life by sharing everything with everyone?

Is it possible to put my children at risk by oversharing about them? When they finally venture into the cyber world, will they be happy that their faces are already all over the internet? Will they appreciate pictures of them in a diaper or some other situation that might be an embarrassment when they try to create their own cyber presence? Will the pictures/tweets/status updates that are cute now be cute to them someday? Do I realize that what I post cannot be unposted? What about the "friends" that see these pics, etc? Am I really sure that they are the same person I knew way back when? Can I be certain that there is not a predator on my list of "friends" or "followers"? Is any of this really worth putting that picture of my cutie out there for all to see? What is gained by posting? What is lost by not posting? What is preserved by keeping it private?

What about my family as a whole? If I want what happens in our home to be special, do I cheapen it by sharing it with the whole world? How much is too much? At what point are there more than just us in the house because I've invited my whole world of cyber "friends" to come for dinner?

But without sharing, can there be real connections? Don't all great speakers/writers expose a slice of themselves to connect with their audience? Can I connect with my audience without sharing? If so, how? If not - if sharing is required - how much is necessary? If I want to be real and genuine and also maintain a boundary of public/private, where is the line?

Have you ever given any of this any thought? Or do you just post whatever comes to mind with no thought to the consequences?

Can you tell that I have been giving this a lot of thought? If you have thought about it, would you please share with me?

10 comments:

  1. Content aside- Wow... you actually managed to write the whole thing with questions! That's a work of syntax art. Kudos to you putting your art out there but protecting your heart at home.

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    1. Thanks so much, Joey!! Your praise means a lot to me.

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  2. I don't have any answers, but I think about this a lot. I have realized that you just never know who might be reading your blog. (A 5th grader from my kids' school "liked" my Facebook Page for my blog!) However, I still want to record the memories for my family and make those connections. It is a very fine line! :-)

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    1. I agree with you that it's a fine line. I sure wish I knew where that line was :-)

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  3. How is it possible that we've been thinking about the same thing on the same day? Last night I was telling hubby about this very thing because ... I mean... it's always something that's on the back on my mind... but there are times (like yesterday) when I want to VIRTUALLY disappear... I don't really know what to do... I am far away from both my family in Mexico and hubby's family way up North and sharing tons of pictures and our activities seems like a MUST and Facebook makes it sooo easy... the problem is that even when I try to set things to private... there are more and more people added, harder to control who sees what, etc... it's hard... but I am thinking seriously about removing at least my profile (things are never really deleted I know but at least won't be sooo exposed) and then creating a new one just for the closest ones... and then I feel like I sound paranoid and makes me think "but I won't be able to see this or that" and I go back and forth... so... no answers here... probably just more questions if any! -sigh-

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    1. I understand! That's why my whole post is in ???s I do post pics for my family (they all live far from us), but I lock them down for just the fam to see. But it is tough! I hear you!

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  4. I definitely think about this...largely because my family's and my parent's lifestyle required a great deal of privacy, I was pretty much raised with the idea of "beware of what you share."
    It's a good thing to keep in mind, in both blogging and facebook...with facebook I'm not so concerned because I'm one of those with everything set to "friends only" and I don't even accept everyone I know in real life....on the blog I definitely watch what I say too...

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    1. At least you think before you post. How many people don't? I've talked to so many who just post whatever comes to mind without any thought to the possible consequences. It's just a weird world we live in.

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  5. You are a good writer :)

    Don't put anything in a post that you wouldn't have in a book of essays that you wrote. That would be edited and checked over etc ..it wouldn't be there for the public to see on a page the minute you wrote it.

    So give yourself a comfort zone of x amount of days between writing something and actually posting / publishing it.

    This way if you are wary or uncomfortable or concerned as to whether you are sharing too much, you have a few days to think about it first :)

    Just an idea and you are probably doing that anyway for the most part ....

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    1. Thank you for your thoughts! I love the idea about waiting to post. I need to use that in every area of my life. The times my mouth has run before I've stopped to think have gotten me in lots of trouble :-)

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I would love to hear what you think. And I'll write back. Thanks for making the time to leave me a message.

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