We live in the age of TMI (too much information). People are sharing more about their lives than ever before, and often regretting it after all is said and done. No one is really sure why they share too much, but perhaps it is because ways to share are more numerous than ever. Some people just talk a lot, but some otherwise tight lipped people are sharing intimate details of their personal relationships with strangers and friends alike. While this is usually just embarrassing, it can lead to bigger problems for some people.
Before the Internet was popular, personal relationships were more the subject of gossip than anything else. We had close friends or family members that we talked to about problems in relationships, but we didn't walk through town shouting our private details to anyone who happened to be listening. Everyone talked about everyone else, but most things could not be proven. Today, people take the guess work out of gossip by telling on themselves in a most public way. Personal relationships are not always private any longer.
If you post on a social network like FaceBook or MySpace, you may be guilty of sharing too much about your personal relationships. Some people will spout off about anything and everything private without thinking about who could be reading. It is much like walking down the street and yelling out your most embarrassing thoughts, ideas, and moments and thinking there is no way that anyone is going to hear you. Are you sure each person on your friend list will be discrete or that you know who all can read? You probably have no idea how public your posts are, even on a private page.
When you post about your personal relationships on a social network, you should always have a private page and know each and every person on your list. Even then, you have to be careful about what you say. There are always going to be ways for your very private posts to be leaked out of your page. People talk, and if you post something interesting or even scandalous about your personal relationships, you can almost guarantee that someone is going to tell someone who is not on your list and before you know it, everyone knows what you posted.
What can you do to keep your personal relationships private? Remember to keep things to yourself and have a few friends that you can confide in, but only in person. Never assume that anything you type online is going to remain private. Once you type an email and send it, the control of those contents is out of your hands. When you post an update on FaceBook, more people can see it than you think. Keep those private, personal relationships to yourself by thinking emails and posts over before you hit send. You will be glad that you did. Think about the times you have cringed when reading something personal a friend has posted, and try to avoid that type of public embarrassment for yourself.