I've been blogging now for three and a half years, with a diet Instagram for a year before that too. Sharing life online has been a part of my life now for a good chunk of my 20s, and it is now something I do with little thought - I snap, I upload. I don't think twice about it.
I have found though, that there are people who are uneasy about it. People who classify it as weird, oversharing, etc. Especially when they don't actually know me yet. They assume, like quite a lot of people - that I share everything.
This issue seems to crop up in two situations. When it comes to dating - the automatic assumption seems to be that their face will be all over it, and the world will know all their details and dirty secrets. Their brother, mother, sister, cousin will know they lied in 1999 and now their lives will be over. The second situation is for people who don't know me but like to think they do. I can assure you, if you follow every single upload anyone posts, you will know - what they want you to know, and that is a very big difference to actually knowing someone.
I think the key thing to remember about anyone who shares their life online, is that they are showing you what they want to show you, what they want to share, and they have FULL control over what you view and when you view it. I can share 40 uploads in one day, but still at most it'll be 10 minutes of a 24 hour day - 10 minutes I have hand selected to show you, the context, location, feelings - entire chunks may be completely missing - but that is the beauty of social media, you can share what you want people to see.
There are topics I will avoid or stay clear of. My job is the main one. I don't discuss anything about it, other than "I'm at work". My son is online, but I limit the content or twist the content to suit, there will be times it looks like I never have him, but he is always there - him being absent from my stories or feed does not mean I neglect him. I have several friends who are not online, so they will never appear. I won't ever force anyone to be online when they do not want to be or they do not feel comfortable with. Same goes for me. There is a lot of aspects of my social life that I will not share, gaps. But some things must remain personal, and just because I share parts of my life online, does not mean I share my whole life online.
Recently I have been sharing more about my anxiety. Simply because due to timings it is more of an issue, Anxiety definitely does not rule my life, it does not impact my actions, but at this moment it is there. My options were to keep smiling, not share any of it, and power on through... or to open up and share how I am feeling. In a world of perfect flat lays, beauty shots and perfect lives, people appreciate the faults you decide to show, they are relatable, and show people you are not alone in similar thoughts and shows a side of you people can open up to. They are the moments that make online friendships, something I will always be eternally grateful for.
For the more negative aspects of life online, there are Block, Mute and Unfollow buttons. Not only do we retain the right to control what we post, we can control who sees it too - just because someone uploads parts of their life online, it does not give anyone an automatic right to view it. Block is a handy tool.
It should be noted though that my online sharing has built a following of over 16,000 across my platforms. It has allowed me to talk about something I love, it has allowed me to work with incredible brands like Urban Decay, M&S, World Duty-Free, Eve Mattress, etc. It has also allowed me to earn money for doing something I love while building up the confidence to go for a life I want to live. Blogging and Social Media has opened up SO many doors for me, and if oversharing is considered as weird... then okay, I will rock the weird like a professional.
Do you share your life online? What are your thoughts on it?
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