Unit 9: Types of Speeches According to Purpose • Grade 11/12

Oversharing: A Social Media Disease

Before coming to this hall, how many of you have scrolled through your social media, saw one
or two posts, and thought: MUST YOU REALLY SHARE THAT?! Oh, some of you laughed. Did I
guess it right? Don't worry; I had the same thought when I saw a friend's post earlier about
something I prefer not to reveal.

Anyway, that is a common problem that many of us have, and we call it oversharing. According
to dictionaries, oversharing means revealing too much information. This information could even
be the most personal, private details about you or other people.

Sandi Mann, a psychologist from the University of Central Lancashire, mentioned in her
HuffingtonPost article four theories on why people overshare. She cited boredom, egocentricity,
low self-esteem, and loneliness as the main reasons for oversharing.

According to her, those who post of even the most mundane things must be bored and have all
the time in the world. These people might have a lack of more significant and more exciting
activities in their lives; hence, they post everything that they do on social media like doing the
laundry or sipping coffee.

Another reason is egocentricity. In thinking that the world revolves around us alone, we tend to
use it as our license to overshare every little thing about us. However, since most of these
oversharers are adults, she implied in her article that maybe they need to outgrow that
egocentric stage from their childhood. It also builds on narcissistic characteristics of a person.

Oversharing on social media boosts the morale of people with low self-esteem. By curating the
most thrilling and exciting events in their lives solely for the sake of posting, it is a way for them
to validate themselves and reassure themselves of other people's interest and admiration.
These people might want to make other people think that they are doing alright.

Lastly, Mann theorizes that people overshare due to loneliness. These kinds of people who
overshare might be trying to reach out and are seeking for connection that they could not find
online. It might be their only way to engage in conversations with people who are
geographically unavailable and unreachable for them.

Oversharing might be fun at the beginning, but it wears off people eventually. It can also serve
as a security threat because people with bad intentions could easily use your information for
whatever purposes they would want to use it. So, before you hit that share or tweet button,
think. Think again, and think hard about it.
Copyright © 2019 Quipper Limited

Unit 9: Types of Speeches According to Purpose • Grade 11/12

Guide Questions

1. What is the topic in the speech?

2. What kind of expository/informative speech is it?
3. What characteristics of expository speech are exemplified in the speech? 4.
What makes the speech interesting and worth listening to?
5. If you were in the audience, would you have easily believed the information presented by
the speaker? Why or why not?
Copyright © 2019 Quipper Limited