So This Is Why So Many People You Know Constantly Overshare On Facebook

We all have that one friend (or perhaps 378923 friends) who feels the need to share every aspect of their life on Facebook. While it’s good to keep people in the know with certain aspects of your existence - we don’t have to know, and really don’t care, about every dating app mishap, trip to the bathroom or what your kid wore to their 75th day of school. Why though do these oversharers post every single thing or thought that comes up? Well, there’s actually scientific reasoning as to why we’re living in a world where people are too open about their lives.

In 2015 researchers up at Harvard discovered that when we share our thoughts and feelings it actually activates the neurochemical reward system in our brains way more than when we simply telling people how we feel in person. Which makes sense. We’re constantly on our devices, void of actual human contact. The idea of sharing in person is becoming less and less common thanks to the rise of the various social media outlets.

Not only are we more comfortable sharing online than we are in person, but on some level - we’re starting to live sort of more delusional existence because of it. Russell W. Belk, chair in marketing at York University in Toronto wrote a paper about this that just got some love in the Journal of Consumer Research. He noted that social media is creating a world in which we’re creating more idealized versions of ourselves. You know what that means, people today are trippin’ by having two personalities; online and real life. We all know those people. Super hype on their Twitter but boring as hell when face to face.

Social media has no doubt changed how we act as a society. It’s we’re we get political news, find out about the latest Kardashian updates, and of course communicate with one another. Only, we’ve morphed into a world that shares far too much. Scientifically speaking it’s not only because we’ve become more comfortable being open with a screen than than with actual people, but also because online - we’re free to be anyone we want. While there are a hell of a lot of trolls, we’ve somehow told ourselves there is less judgement when we post on Facebook than there is in person. Seems odd, but that's reality!