Being transparent

My immediate reaction when I hear about someone placing a high value on her privacy is, "Why? What do you have to hide? Or what are you unwilling to share?"

For me, sharing myself is a way to connect with people. Have you ever noticed how receptive people are when you are genuinely open and giving of yourself? It puts people at ease. The more open you are with yourself, the more likely it is that someone will find something about you they can relate to.

Certainly, there is such a thing as overshare. I'm not going to go around announcing every time I burn the rice or buy a new bottle of shampoo (unless, of course, either incident was particularly spectacular). That would be obnoxious and dull.

But when someone wants to have a genuine conversation, why would I hoard information about my life from that person? What if they want to know about the kind of milk I buy? What if they're apartment hunting in my neighborhood? What if they want to talk about how to choose cat litter?

Most human interaction is an exchange of information about life's mundane details. Being online simply helps you interact with (share mundane details with) more people in a broader scope. You broadcast your life, and you find more and more people who can relate to you.

I'm not sure why technology makes that concept seem so convoluted. It's simple, really. We've always known it. "Give yourself, if you wish to get others." - David Seabury