Greetings! And too many salutations?
Greetings from the sunny shores of New Jersey. We’re having a fine trip. The ocean is um, well, it’s kind of closed right now. Something about waves being too big for it to be safe. So yeah, it’s a wee bit hot, you know, on the beach, when we can’t actually get in the water…
And Hubby and I have been plowing through the third season of Lost in the evenings once the kids are in bed. We have the finale tonight. Don’t you dare tell me anything about it because a) I probably already know because I know about one major thing that happens. And b) you will not be forgiven, not ever!
And here’s my question: Do you think blogging makes you share way too much information when you meet people? I ask because I recently filled out a little get-to-know-you survey for a local mom club that I joined to meet people in our new area. I basically filled the thing out as thought I was doing a meme on my blog. When it was printed in the newsletter with the other new members’, I saw that everyone else had written like 1 and 2 word answers. Mine had been cut . . . It made me sort of wonder if I was giving out way TMI.
And then on the beach this morning we were talking to the people near us who had a girl Sam’s age. I think by the end of the conversation the woman knew major details about my life and could probably go in depth on my feelings on tons of topics - I talked the poor woman’s ear off. She’d ask me a question and I’d give her these long, personal stories, and we’d only just met.
Do you think blogging skews your sense of what is appropriate information to share with others/strangers? I can’t work it all out right now, because we have to head back to the beach and see if the ocean is, um, open yet, but that’s what’s on my mind. I have to wonder if it might have something to do with the fact that I spill my heart on the internet on an almost daily basis.
Hope everyone is enjoying the guest posts. I have a few more lined up and they’re great.
You bring up a good point. I am used to writing on the blog and documenting everything that I don’t think twice about sharing information elsewhere. Maybe we should be more guarded. Although I’ve always been pretty open so don’t know how much I could change at this point. I’ll have to think about this though!
Maybe, or maybe it is just a need to have more conversations with adults.
What an interesting thought…although I have to say I think it happened in reverse order for me…
A lifelong “over-sharer” (want the details of discharge during twin pregnancy? I’m your gal!), blogging just seemed the next logical step.
Think it was my husband who once described me accurately not as a writer/author, but as a “talker who transcribes.” Seems about right.
Loved Jo-Lynne’s guest post…can’t wait to read others! (Of course I always love yours!)
I think it’s that we blog because we already are the kind of person who shares too much. I know I’ve always been the type to overshare personal details. It seems natural to me that I would do this online as well. In fact, at my hubby’s request I sometimes have to tone down my blog otherwise EVERYONE would know EVERYTHING about us. Could be that bloggers are natural TMI kinda people, hence the reason we feel so comfortable posting our lives for the world to read and why people like you are so successful at blogging.
Blogging seems to have given most of my personal emails and conversations a blog-speak type of slant that I am not all that proud of. And now, every little thing that happens throughout the day get’s “pre-blogged” in my head. Luckily I edit before I actually post or I would be posting things like “The Funny Thing That Happened With The Tinfoil Dispenser Last Night”. Riveting, I’m sure…
Let me think about that and blog about it.
Yes. I think you are right.
Mike
http://somethingaboutparenting.typepad.com/
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Interesting question. I would have to say that I have always had an inappropriate sense of oversharing so blogging just feeds into it.
Me and you would make such great friends. Except for the fact that we’d never get anything done because we’d both be spilling way TMI.
I’ve always been a pretty open book. I actually am annoyed by people at the other end of the spectrum who you just can’t convince to open up. It’s tough to be friends with a bookend, kwim?
Maybe I’m the annoying one. Not that it’ll change anything.
I am the same way! I did the same to a woman I met at the pool in April. I told her about my husband’s cancer and my cesareans, etc. I had just started blogging, so maybe it is just a personality trait. I do think blogging builds your confidence in a lot of ways. I think some of those short answers were just women who didn’t know what to share of themselves. Hope the beach opens soon!! Have a blast!@
I love the new header! It’s sportin my do! lol
I’m not a good judge of this sort of thing at all. In my line of work the majority of my clients and I always share very personal information with one another. My husband has made specific requests that I not share certain things when they happen because he KNOWS how I am and how nothing is really off limits for me. I am very open. So sharing my life through blogging is really natural for me.
One thing I will say is that maybe you are more open with strangers because through blogging you have met great people that are basically strangers. Maybe this makes you more trusting of strangers and realize that you don’t always have to know someone really well to talk about your life in great detail with them if it seems to ‘fit’.
So many here have already said it… but I too have been a long time over-sharer, the blogging is just an extension of my endlessly yapping mouth.
Speaking of which… I need to go post!
Hi, Beth. I’d never really thought about how blogging spills over into my “real-life” interactions. Hmmm…
I hope you’re able to get some beach time in soon.
Absolutely, I am always a too much information talker. I think I get too friendly too quick with people sometimes, and they either love it or it freaks them out.
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