The Need to Share?

The need to share ... This is the subject of my pondering for the day.  As I log into to Facebook for my daily lunchtime foray, suddenly it clicks in my mind for some peculiar reason that Facebook is about sharing.  It's not just about consumption of news, data, thoughts and ideas, although that is an aspect of Facebook to be certain, but perhaps the act of sharing paints Facebook in a more altruistic light?  Sharing of thoughts, compelling ideas, our hopes & dreams, our pains & heartaches, personal challenges and triumphs and hopefully, more often than not the sharing of a SMILE and happy times. Sometimes Facebook is about shared passions, photographs, art and words woven into art, but fundamentally Facebook is about sharing ... And so I begin to wonder: What compels people to want to share on such a public forum, to open up ... to be exposed and vulnerable? Is it perhaps easier for people to share because they are 'hidden' away behind the relative safety of a keyboard and isolated screen? Are people more open and revealing on Facebook than they would otherwise be in their real world daily lives? Moreover is Facebook helping people to truly "connect" or does it, in truth, disconnect them from the real world? Well, I suppose the answer depends on the given individual and how they "use" Facebook ... that is if you happen to subscribe to the notion that people "use" Facebook and not the other way around. Remember: two sides there are to every truth ...

Arthur Hacker, A Quiet Cove Girl Canoeing

ArtMagick.com

Following the logical progression of exploring the "need to share," I reflect upon my own need to share ... I wonder, do I have a compelling need to share? Should I take a long hard look in the mirror or simply choose to walk right on through to the other side of my 'Looking Glass'? Well, walking through the glass would just be avoiding the issue so I'll not go there today. I'll stay on course and navigate further into the deep murky waters. Taking a first pass at this pondering of my own personal need to share, I would have to say that I have perhaps the opposite of a need to share ... I have a need to hide. I am a very private person. Life's lessons have taught me to be wary, distrustful and observant. I seldom feel the urge to post a photograph or poem, sketch or snap (photo) of my latest jewelry creation. In fact, rather the opposite seems to be my case. I have to force myself to share. I much prefer to ponder, to question, to explore, to try to understand this journey that I am on and the reason for my existence in this here and now. I find little satisfaction in sharing beyond the fact that it seems to keep the friends on my Facebook list from dropping like flies. Sharing makes me feel vulnerable and vulnerable scares the hell out the me.  Luckily, I've found a work-around ... I use an alias.  Kind of like here ... I'm me, but who I am is not written in black & white.  Still, I truly do enjoy experiencing the sharing of others. I admire others for their ability to be open and give so freely of themselves in sharing who they are.  So perhaps in that respect Facebook is good for me. Perhaps, Facebook is teaching me "how to share"? ... How to be open up, how to be seen without feeling the need to quickly run away and hide? Maybe some of life's painful lessons can be unlearned?

So what about you?  Where do stand on the need to share?  Are you an open book?  Are you guarded and cautious ... Are you above sharing?  Are your interests in sharing self-serving?  Are you attention seeking?  Do you receive as well as you share?  Some food for thought, maybe?