“Fake” vs “Over-Sharing” - Where’s the Line?


Ciao lovelies! Today I’ve got an opinion post for you all, that might ruffle some feathers, so I encourage you all to read through the whole thing before commenting/forming an opinion about my opinion. I have a tendency to be long-winded so I might take a while to get to the point sometimes, but I promise it’s there, the point will be made.

That being said, let’s get into the point I want to make today. Today I want to discuss the cultures online of “Fake” vs “Over-Sharing”. To begin, let me explain one major thing- I don’t believe that people are being “fake”- yes, even if they’re photo-shopping or whatever. I don’t care. People are not “fake” just because they don’t share every little detail of their lives on social media.



I really dislike this culture we’ve built where people feel pressured to either share everything or nothing on social media. If people don’t share everything, then some people might call them “Fake.” If someone shares everything, people might call them “dramatic” or “attention-seeking.” Why isn’t there a healthy middle?


Our society seems to have issue with the idea of Privacy. Many out there think that just because someone puts themselves out there, they are open to being stalked, harassed, and bullied- but that should not be true. Just because I have a YouTube channel, am I asking to be harassed? No! That kind of thinking, where people are blaming those who use social media for the lack of privacy they receive, is a bit of victim-blaming.


But I am getting off on a tangent, sorry. Back to the original point. I feel that today’s society demands all or nothing from people online. And this can be especially harmful to young people who use social media, who are especially impressionable.


If someone who is younger, say High School age, feels they must share everything on Social Media- what happens when they over-share? What if they feel pressured into sharing personal life details to prove a point to “haters,” or what if they accidentally give away personal life details like their address?


I feel that as a society, we need to flip the way we see social media. Instead of taking an all-or-nothing approach, we should respect the privacy of others. If someone doesn’t want to share everything online, we should not demand the opposite. Nor should we call them “fake” for withholding details of their personal lives. At the end of the day, these are PEOPLE behind the screen. These are individuals who have their own life, and it’s not our place to speculate or harass them about it. It’s not our job as a society to police what people want to post- we shouldn’t be shaming someone who wants to stay private.


I also feel that we need to educate better on the dangers of oversharing. We need to teach the younger generations that what they share online stays there forever. That it can affect their ability to get jobs in the future. That it can follow them for a long time. Young people especially will need this knowledge. Education, in my opinion, is how to help the younger generations understand these things.


What is your opinion on this societal issue? Do you see this happening online? What is your take on it? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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Thanks again for reading, remember to stay awesome, love yourself, and I'll see you in our next post!

4 Comments

  1. I agree with everything you said. There is a Youtuber I follow (readwithcindy) who gained a lot of subscribers in a short amount of time, and in one of her videos she talked a bit about how she has clearly noticed that the more "fame" she gets, the less people see her as human. This manifests in both extremes, like people treating her as some kind of goddess on one hand, and on the other hand some people are very quick to criticize or bash her. I hadn't really thought about it like that before but it's so true, and it goes for any kind of celebrity, not just people of online fame.
    One of my coworkers says she won't allow her children to use social media until they are 18. Some people might think this is extreme, but honestly, I don't think it's a bad idea. I did some absolutely stupid and embarrassing stuff online when I was underaged. Luckily I never gained any significant following or attention so any evidence of this has been deleted or faded into obscurity, but that is not the case for everyone. I have seen underaged kids get harassed online for their mistakes; there was one incident where somebody I know was being harassed online so badly that one of the bullies actually called their workplace, falsely accused them of pedophilia and got them fired. When people make mistakes, they of course should be held accountable, but I feel like some people on the internet forget that it is only human to make mistakes. Especially if you are underaged, I think parents need to monitor their kids' internet usage more closely, because as you said, these things can follow you for a long time, even long after you have learned and atoned for your mistakes.
    Sorry for the long, rambly comment....I've been using the internet for as long as I've been able to read, so these kinds of topics are very interesting to me ^^

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    1. Yes, unfortunately things online do follow people for a long time. I still get issues popping up from trolling I experienced as a 14-15 year old, which is insane to me because its been like 6-7 years now. I definitely feel we need to teach kids young about that sort of thing, and have some better internet monitoring as well. Thanks for reading and thanks for your insightful comment! :)

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  2. Ugh I'm sorry you've had to deal with that. It won't make the trolls go away, but I would just keep in mind, that anyone who does that wouldn't be doing that unless they were deeply unhappy with themselves.

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    1. It's okay, I've just learned not to respond, to block, ignore, delete, etc, until they go away. Unfortunately they like to come back, and try to target really sensitive topics for me, but I feel like I'm slowly getting better at letting it go.

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