[twitter]One of the first lessons we learn as kids is how to share. What’s mine is yours, what’s yours is mine. We take turns. We wait patiently. We share.
Somewhere between offering you one of my fishy crackers and Facebook, however, the lesson was learned too well. We now share all the time. We share blog links. We share photos. We like and share and repin. Sometimes you don’t even need to share to share. An original post of photos, experiences, and stories is sharing. And it is in that final leap that takes us to the realm of oversharing.
While it is fine to reblog, share, and like – when you take something of yourself and post it online, you risk crossing the TMI threshold. It’s worse if you’re a parent, locked in a world that, really and truly, revolves around your kids. Take that eager excitement of potty training and talk about it online and you are now a sharent.
The Guardian this weekend wrote about “sharents”, labelling the likes of parents who overshare online. The article named me as a parent who overshares and will likely face psychiatric bills for my children because of the articles I have written about them in the past.
In the fall, I wrote about the struggles I faced when trying to relate with my toddling son. I mentioned that I got along easier with my kindergartner, and when it came to splitting up the kids for chores, or what have you, I would take the oldest, my wife would take the youngest and things would go smoothly.
I talked about having “a favorite child,” and my post went viral. TV news, talk shows, newspapers, blogs, and more picked up on the unspeakable ‘favorite child’ topic. Truth is, many parents have a favorite. It ebbs and flows throughout parenthood, the issue being never to treat your children differently – and I never have.
Still, there is much Google juice attached to this story now, and whenever you search my name online the sensational articles related to the story will follow. So my kids, according to the author (and many anonymous comment trolls), will need therapy.
Except, no they won’t.
Read the rest of this story at Babble.com and find out how Howard Stern took oversharing and made it his brand.