The Truman Show or Social Media?

"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

Truman Burbank

The Truman Show

True confession # 1. Every once in a while I see a movie which is so unique, so good, I end up watching it many times. One of those movies was The Truman Show, staring Jim Carrey. The movie is loosely based upon an idea from an old Twilight Zone episode named Special Service. The plot is very simple. The main character, Truman Burbank, had his entire life, starting at birth, observed 24 hours hours a day, 7 days a week by an adoring public. Truman was unaware that he was nothing more than a fish in a fish bowl. The town he lived in (Seahaven) was in reality a fake setting built under a huge dome. There were thousands of cameras filming every move that Truman made. In fact, people even watched Truman when he was sleeping. In short, every aspect of Truman's life, from the huge to the mundane, were a part of this never ending saga. There are many other nuances to this movie that I will not go into just in case someone has not yet seen it. I will not be a spoiler.

True confession # 2. I am a member of the Facebook community. Not only am I a member, I totally enjoy it. I love sharing and I love reading about other people's lives. Once in a while I will respond to a Facebook friend's post. I enjoy the pithy comments as well as the serious, the political as well as the mundane. I really like stories about families, the loves as well as the hurts, the joys as well as the sorrows, the challenges and the triumphs. In short, Facebook is a microcosm of life itself.

This being said, there are also times I am amazed at how much deeply personal information people release into the Facebook arena. I have seen vulgarity, hateful loquacious statements, anarchist rants and worst. I have also seen paragraph after paragraph of some of the most insipid ramblings. I have seen people talk about being gone on vacation from this date to that date, telling the world that their abode will be empty and vulnerable to intrusion. In short, rather than opening a window to their soul to the caring and concerned, some open the front door of their lives to all - friend or foe.

So the conundrum I have been pondering is this - where is the line between Facebook being a sharing tool rather than allowing us exposure similar to Truman? How much sharing is too much? Is what is being shared germane to anyone, or is just a form of journaling? Has Facebook become a longer version of Twitter?

In the movie The Truman Show, once Truman discovered he was inside the goldfish bowl and nothing was real or as it seemed, all he wanted was "out". There were things he considered private and did not care so share with the world. We should also practice that construct when using Facebook. As nice as it is for sharing, there are things that are private, and should remain that way.

That is all I have to say on this topic. Until later, I will say what Truman taught us when leaving his false confine - "Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"