How Not to Tell Everyone Everything
In case your best moments don’t come with a hashtag.
Feelings are intense, words are trivial, Depeche Mode reminds us. Maybe that’s why the best moments never need a caption.
Some things really do merit a public announcement — birthdays, marathon finishes, or that rare moment when your home project doesn’t end in a minor disaster. The rest? Most of it probably lands somewhere between mildly interesting and could’ve stayed in the drafts.
And yet, the line keeps moving. Someone live-blogs their breakup in real time. A neighbor’s vacation is tracked one Instagram Story at a time — until their house gets burgled and suddenly it’s less live, laugh, love and more file a police report. Every group chat has That Guy who offers unsolicited health updates as if we’re all his doctor. The difference between open book and open wound has never felt thinner.
Privacy might have become the ultimate luxury in the age of oversharing. If you’re still reading this and haven’t mentioned it on your socials yet, you might be in the market for a little quiet. Turns out, you don’t even need to be mysterious — just a bit less available for public consumption.
It’s not fear that sends people into retreat, it’s strategy. Oversharing turns good news into bait for the wrong kind of attention. Now and then, the bravest thing you can do is let your victories simmer quietly, far from the reach of prying eyes.
Need proof? Ever watched someone tweet about a peaceful morning and get roasted because Alexa blurted out their overdue reminders mid-video? Or that guy who humblebrags about his new car and forgets to blur out his license plate? One post, and suddenly the internet’s your backseat driver.
There’s a reason authors don’t let strangers finish their books. When you play it quiet, you’re less likely to find your best stories rewritten by a chorus of relatives and acquaintances who swear they know the real you. Better to be the narrator than the subject.
Anyone can make noise, but meaning comes from what you hold back. In a world that prizes constant broadcast, there’s power in the pause — in keeping something for yourself when everyone else is busy oversharing.
These days, silence is more than absence; it’s presence on your terms.
“Hi my name is Sean and I overshare.”
“Hi Sean.”