Oversharing on Facebook

[ChattaAlley]

I have a "friend"/acquaintance on FB who is "In Love" every 3 months or so. She will post pictures of her new love kissing, holding hands, etc. She talks about each of them like they are going to get married. She is 40......40!!!!! Come on. When does it stop? For me I am a closed book. I never offer information. I just don't understand the need to share everything. Cause in reality no one really cares.

 

[Allons-y!]

All I can say after reading threads about FB is that I must have the most drama-free FB friends ever. Seriously! The most drama I've witnessed is on our town's unofficial page, which is pretty fun to read when arguments get heated. Beyond that, the only people I don't follow are 2 who post too many political posts for my taste and one who I swear posts an inspirational meme every hour or so. No crazy exs, no constant food pics, and no family feuds!

 

[sunshinehighway]

I enjoy drama posts, not vague status updates. They are childish and make the people look ridiculous but it's like a guilty pleasure. I have two fb friends that post all kinds of silly dramas with significant others. The best is when people comment and there are little arguments. These are women in their 30s. The best is when they post something, get into arguments about it, delete it and post a bunch of passive aggressive "inspirational" quote.

 

[Dentam]

The one thing I really think people should not post on facebook are graphic photos. It is easier enough to start reading a post, realize you are not interested and scroll on; it is much harder to unsee a photo you were not expecting to pop up in your timeline. I have hidden a couple of people from my timeline who took to posting lots of photos of animal abuse or abortion---and that is too bad because in each case the person also posted lots of other things I was interested in and now I don't really see any of it.

Same here. I had to hide a friend from high school from my newsfeed because she was always posting awful photos of animal abuse. I get that she's trying to draw attention to the issue or catch the person who did it, but man, I really don't want to see that. Same goes for my cousin and his wife who moved from a big city to live off the land. Too many photos of butchering their animals for food. I'm not against eating meat or anything but really don't need to have a surprise carcass on my newsfeed, especially on my lunch break.

As I said to the OP, it is easy to block anyone from your newsfeed. If you don't and instead bring it up on a message board, well, it seems that you're actually getting some enjoyment out of putting other people down.

 

[cluvsdisney]

I don't care that other people overshare - if it bothered me, I would unfollow their feeds or unfriend them. But it's not something I am comfortable with so I don't. My DH has no interest in any kind of social media so I don't put pictures of us on FB or instagram and left my relationship status blank. My activity on FB is generally limited to groups and occasional commenting between friends on their posts or pictures.

I do have one friend similar to the guy the OP is talking about but at the time she posted everything she did as she did it - checking in, pictures, etc. She'd change her relationship status all time...two dates resulted in an update. "Breaking up" led to a status up date and woe is me post. She got in trouble at work for not showing up after checking in from bars all night. And she would post those dramatic vague posts to garner attention. She was going through a bad time for a long time and has since resolved her situations and doesn't post like that anymore.

 

[RedAngie]

One friend recently became a first time grandma. She's constantly posting multiple photos of her grandson, and albums of 15+ pictures. I get that she's proud and excited, but 99% of the photos look exactly the same. I just "like" the posts without bothering to look at the photos anymore.

Younger DD changes her profile picture quite frequently. Three or four times a week is not uncommon.

Maybe twice a year I'll post a photo of myself and DH, usually from some out of town location.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Wait... you think talking about dating on facebook is oversharing?

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

exactly YOU dont get it, YOU dont think a grown man should posting like that... just unfriend him, problem solved, you wont have to see his over sharing and get so annoyed you come to DIS to complain

Just commenting on the bolded. Being that this is a community board, I think anyone has the right to feel annoyed about something and vent here or talk about it here without other people jumping on him/her for doing that. That is basically what the Community Board serves - as a place to chat about whatever. Being annoyed enough to scold someone about posting a vent on the Community Board is no different to me than being annoyed at something on Facebook and wanting to vent about it here. Just a thought.

Edited to amend: I should have said that being annoyed enough to scold someone about posting a vent on the Community Board is in contrast to the scolding message here.

 

[Turn the Page]

I tend to use facebook to share pictures of the kids, vacation pictures, or post something funny one of the kids said or did. But yes, I have friends who overshare. I had one that every few months would get into a fight with her BF/DH on facebook and you would watch them just go at it then her friends would jump in and start jumping on him and she would start with the passive aggressive memes to try to prove her point. She is no longer a friend of mine. Too much drama.

I also have a couple of friends who post extreme right wing political posts all. the. time. Extreme political posts are irritating no matter which particular brand they are. The worst are all the memes that have absolutely no basis in fact but people share them as if they are gospel. Not to get too political here but I saw a facebook meme regarding gun control the other day and someone, who has to be at least in his 60's so plenty old enough to know better, commented that the reason neither Germany nor Japan attack the United States during WWII was because our citizens had guns. The sheer stupidity of that one really threw me for a loop. This is the guy who will also occasionally post a meme that basically says "I don't care if my political posts offend you my country matters more to me than your feelings" or something to that effect. I always laugh at that one and just think ok, you can continue to make yourself look like a butthead, doesn't hurt my feelings at all.

I have another friend who had a stillborn baby a about 6 or 7 years ago now. Of course she was posting from the hospital that he was stillborn and it was all very tragic and my heart really went out to her. I can't fathom going through something like that but I imagine you would reach out for comfort and support wherever you can find it. But then she kept posting in horrifying detail about each of her subsequent miscarriages. You would get the "I'm pregnant" post, followed by the "the doctor tells us today if it's a viable pregnancy" post, followed by the "really need prayers to prove the doctor wrong" post, and finally the "heartbroken" posts. All 18 times. Yes, 18 miscarriages documented on facebook for the world to see. It was heartbreaking but at the same time you just wanted to tell her to stop. If that's not oversharing I'm really not sure what is.

 

[Planogirl]

Wow, this thread just helps me keep my resolve to stay off of Facebook.

 

[tvguy]

FB is interesting. Today's top posts have had photos related to King Day.........followed by photos of family pets hiding during the weekend when NFL games weren't going the way their owners wanted and apparently the owners scared their pets with their vocal outbursts........and then food photos of people who have today off and went out Sunday night for dinner.

 

[Alesia]

He overshares a lot
His 'I am now Single' post was long and sounded too needy to me, just not something a grown man should put all over the Internet IMO

If you don't like the things he posts, just unfollow him. Problem solved.

 

[NewRVLady]

Wow, this thread just helps me keep my resolve to stay off of Facebook.

There is lots I love about Facebook-

esp seeing all the babies born to my friends kids....seeing them grow

Seeing adventures folks have -one young couple is taking their first year of marriage off to tour the world with one knapsack each!...another cousin lives in Vietnam-very interesting country & food

another friend started a kid's Charity....she works in the Music dept of a University-they collect old forgotten musical instruments-tune them up and give to kids who cant afford instruments-her pics ( saw some today) with the kids smiles holding their new treasure is so uplifting...

 

[Alesia]

Wow, this thread just helps me keep my resolve to stay off of Facebook.

Facebook is only as drama-filled as you allow it to be.

 

[cijay]

My ex could post every "I'm single" post she wants, I wouldn't know.

 

[tvguy]

Most interesting pictures on my timeline recently were from a woman my DW used to work with, I used to work with her husband.
Okay, I guess her ex-husband.
The photos were from her wedding to another man. Seems like just a few months ago I saw them together as a couple.

 

[ThurlFan]

I think is an epidemic of people living their lives with the attitude of a 24 hours news channel, always looking for content to fill the airwaves.

Bingo

 

[Minnesota!]

I have a "friend"/acquaintance on FB who is "In Love" every 3 months or so. She will post pictures of her new love kissing, holding hands, etc. She talks about each of them like they are going to get married. She is 40......40!!!!! Come on. When does it stop? For me I am a closed book. I never offer information. I just don't understand the need to share everything. Cause in reality no one really cares.

I do, too! She was engaged 3 times in 2015...to 3 different men!!

 

[Julie's Haircut]

.

Not to get too political here but I saw a facebook meme regarding gun control the other day and someone, who has to be at least in his 60's so plenty old enough to know better, commented that the reason neither Germany nor Japan attack the United States during WWII was because our citizens had guns. The sheer stupidity of that one really threw me for a loop. This is the guy who will also occasionally post a meme that basically says "I don't care if my political posts offend you my country matters more to me than your feelings" or something to that effect. I always laugh at that one and just think ok, you can continue to make yourself look like a butthead, doesn't hurt my feelings at all.
.

Japan didn't attack the U.S. during WWII????? I guess Hawaii technically wasn't a state then. But I have a feeling the person being referred to probably still considers Hawaii a foreign country, not really part of 'Murica.

 

[AmazingGrace]

I have this one friend who posts these '365 day feminist' selfies. She captions each one with how sick she is with her fibro or this or that. She'll post either pics of herself looking as sick as possible or ridiculously made up to eminate whichever 'fandom' she's pushing. This week it was David Bowie. This woman is a grandmother and her posts read like middle school.