When Does Sharing Become Oversharing? [Content Made Simple]
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When Does Sharing Become Oversharing? [Content Made Simple]
Issue #225: A new social network, a case for better OOO messages, and more.
When Does Sharing Become Oversharing?
Quote:
The possible harms are real: embarrassment, stalking, and conflict with loved ones. Often, people don’t realize they have shared too much until it’s too late. Froio said venting online led to a fight with her parents. Another person, Noa, told me she was required to see a school counselor she did not want to see due to one of her posts. “My boundaries were overstepped,” Noa said.
More and more, I’ve found oversharing on large platforms unpleasant and unfulfilling. I know that I can help people through sharing and community, but I reject the idea that I have to expose my own struggles and traumas in the process, that I have to bleed out over a pixelated screen to be of worth to society.
Commentary:
Fascinating little piece of writing here about attempts to discern the line between appropriate sharing on the internet and oversharing. This is something I’ve thought about a lot, and I found this to be insightful.
HITTING THE LINKS
Link #1: You Need a Better Out of Office Message
I don’t know about you, but I always appreciate creative out of office messages. Charlie makes a good case for improving ours.
There’s a grim, apologetic vibe to these messages — I’m sorry I’m taking time for myself but I’ll try to check in on occasion! They’re a vivid reflection of a work culture that valorizes constant productivity and the near-total overlap of work and life. But they’re also do a terrible job of what they’re intended to do, e.g., set realistic expectations for both sender and recipient. A vague OOO message traps both parties in an uncomfortable liminal space where both productivity and rest go to die. The original sender is left unsure if they’ll be getting a timely response or a whether the email will go ignored for a time or forever. The original recipient has taken what is a rock solid excuse (time off) and cheapened it, offering a backdoor for email guilt to creep in.
Link #2: IRL Is a New Social Network Taking on Facebook Groups
Interesting new app! It has lots of financial support, and I’m all about alternatives to the Facebook suite of platforms. So this should be on social media managers’ radars.
“We’re building Facebook groups and events for the generation that doesn’t use Facebook,” IRL CEO and co-founder Abraham Shafi told The Verge. “There just happens to be no other product really focused on this space for the next generation.”
It’s true that Facebook’s users are getting older — look no further than Instagram preparing an app for kids as a sign that the company is desperate to attract young people. And Shafi is right to identify groups as a critical area in social networking, as people are increasingly moving away from communicating primarily in public feeds to private chats.
Link #3: How Roblox Became a Playground for Virtual Fascists
Ever heard of Roblox? It is much more than a video game. It’s the closest thing we have yet to a metaverse, and it’s getting a little shady in there.
“It’s a good target audience, mostly male, that’s often been very susceptible to radicalization,” says Julia Ebner, a counterterrorism expert for the United Nations. Ebner has gone undercover in a number of extremist groups, both online and offline, including jihadists, neo-Nazis, and an antifeminist collective. She watched as subcultures that grew out of 4chan—initially trolling, not explicitly political—slowly became more political, and then radical. Gradually, inherently extremist content camouflaged as satire became normalized. Then it became real. The vectors, she says, were people like Malcolm.
“Recruitment” isn’t always the right word, Ebner told me. Sometimes “grooming” is a better descriptor. “It’s often not really clear to the people who are recruited what they’re actually recruited into,” she says.
THE FUNNY PART
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