The advent of social media has come with its share of complications. We Tweet when those around us really don’t care what we had for lunch. We post when it’s really more important to us than our friends list that little Johnny used the potty. We put up a video detailing our latest rant when really all we should have done is written in our journal. This is the advent of the TMI. Finding a balance of the over share versus the glad you shared is something we all struggle with.
Having successfully graduated school this year, I have another kick at the mature student can under my belt. I still take umbrage at being called a mature student at 26 when I was only 2 years older than most of the members of my school team are now but one must learn to forgive. At 41, I’ve got a completely different perspective and some of that has to do with social media. The last time I went to college, WWW stood for World Wide Wrestling. Now I’ve learned to Tweet, Link, blog and post since then. A year of education well spent I’d say.
What occurred to me this evening as I contemplated another post was how connected my blog is now and what impact that has. This blog began its first incarnation as “The A Child” named for my anaphylactic, ADD, Autistic, asthmatic, atopic dermatitis, and allergic son. See the A theme ? Pretty good marketing I’d say. As my son grew out some of his health issues, the A’s decreased and his awareness that I was blogging to world (however small that may have been) about him increased. He never said it directly but I think he preferred that I stopped so I mostly did.
My interests also diverged and I began to discuss life topics, things that bugged me, observations, etc. I tried not to make them banal over shares and sometimes I succeeded. My mom began having some health issues so I blogged about that. I started writing short stories and poetry so that got thrown in as well. My blog morphed and expanded and changed direction which in some cases is a good thing but it’s made it hard for people to know what I’m about. Sharing seems to be the common denominator.
With my stint as a mature student completed, I am a job hunter. Now my blog has become a tool of sorts to sell myself and show what I can do. My prompt for this evenings post was the though – Now I enter the world of censorship. Now TMI becomes a bigger issue than ever. This is where the over share, the juvenile verbal diarrhea that is so common in the blogosphere, the uncut rant, the moments of parental pride are all tempered by the fact that my blog is linked to my LinkedIn profile and not just my friends or followers will be reading.
So I ask you this: do I stay true to the somewhat uncharted meanderings of my blog and just write what strikes me ? Or do I go for the intellectual angle and all of a sudden start discussing world politics and important issues ? Do I carefully edit the sometimes unpleasant thoughts that wrestle their way down my fingers and out on to the WWW ? Where is the balance between the over share and the therapeutic factor that only constructive catharsis via blogging can achieve ? Hopefully you’ll be glad I shared when I figure it out.