Facebook

I go through waves of posting on facebook.  I struggle with wanting to share thoughts and happenings with people I care about and not wanting to yell into a megaphone at a bunch of people, some of whom are friends, some of whom are more or less strangers.

So why do we do it?  I started thinking about this after I put up a post Wed night and then promptly took it down.  This was the post...

Me:  "I love you, Mom"
Mom (who has been losing her battle with Alzheimer's for more than 12 years): "I think I do too"

For me that was a profoundly sad interaction which definitely caught me off guard. Even though I could have, I didn't want to call and bother friends who were probably the midst of dinner or whatever, but I clearly wanted to share the experience, so I posted.  Then I realized it was also quite personal and not something to announce over a microphone.

So why this indecision for me?  Why do we all we share, and post, and like.  I think some do it for publicity/marketing for their business and their brand.  The more your clients/customers know you and trust you, the more likely they are to come to you when they need your service.  Others are just completely comfortable with the world at large knowing every last detail about them.

But I think there is a deeper possibility which I have been contemplating since I posted/deleted the other night. I wonder to what extent we, as humans, have a need to have others bear witness...to our joys, our successes, our struggles, our losses.  Does this somehow makes those events more meaningful, or less painful?  Does it change the event, or how we process it?  Is it comfort?  validation?  What do you think?

I want to go ask a psychologist about this notion of bearing witness.  Fascinating to me.