TMI! — Exploring the Realms of Uncomfortable Self-Disclosure

Depending on your personality, you may have found yourself in a situation where someone you were talking to shared something — usually fairly personal — that made you cringe and think "I really didn't need to hear that!"

Perhaps an awkward silence followed...

Hey! What's Happening Here?

I say "depending on your personality" because some people are quite comfortable with other people's private thoughts.

Regardless, I can't help but feel like the number of times I've been exposed to uncomfortable/inappropriate self-disclosure from someone has been on the rise, in recent years.

Actually... now that I think about it, I'd be pretty confident in saying that it has been on the rise since the advent of the Internet.

So, did the Internet inspire people to suddenly share more intimate thoughts?

Actually, it Did!

I was interested in the psychology of the Internet from the very early days, as we explored new concepts such as the psychological construct of the meaning of the word "here" in the context of a virtual environment.

Where is "here?"

But I digress.

Part of the "new frontier" was the anonymity factor. You could be anything or anyone and stay anonymous. Similarly, you could say pretty much anything, safe in the knowledge that it would never be tracked back to you.

And so, people started sharing things they had never shared before.

Fast Forward 25 Years.

Like it or not, 25 years of Internet have made us all somewhat socially inept, at least comparatively speaking. Maybe it's not exactly ineptitude so much as a blurring between how we would disclose personal things when anonymously hidden behind a computer screen, and when sitting across from someone at a table.

And so, we end up in a world with more self-disclosure than the one we used to live in.

Whether this is truly good or bad I can't tell, and it's definitely too late to stuff that particular genie back in the bottle, so it just is, at this point.

But even if it does make some people uncomfortable, maybe it's not such a bad thing. Bottling things up because you fear sharing them isn't exactly great for anyone's mental health.

Although I grew up in a family that rarely spoke about things personal, I am far more comfortable in such matters. I probably find human stories more interesting than most people... just because I am also fascinated by the human psyche.

But what makes something uncomfortable? Is it the fact that what we're hearing gets a bit too close to some of our own unhealed wounds? Is it less about the other person than about ourselves?

In the end, I just try to be a good listener, regardless. Typically, someone spilling they guts means they just want to be heard, and I can give them that.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week ahead!

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!

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Created at 2023-10-23 01:20 PDT
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