Columnists, authors and anyone in the public eye have always had to navigate their ‘material’ judiciously because they’re not just our lives we’re documenting. They’re also the lives of our partners, parents, children and friends. In fact anyone who crosses paths with a writer inadvertently risks exposure. It’s a miracle I have any friends at all.
Relieved you’re not one of them? Not so fast because you also risk unwanted exposure. Everyone is trying to navigate the privacy balance and the new tightrope is social media.
‘Facebook Friction’ has been recently identified as a big issue for many couples with 95 percent of people worried about privacy according to a recent survey by Relationships Australia.
This isn’t so much about flirting with your exes on Facebook or spending too much time online – although there’s that. This is the friction caused by boundaries that aren’t in sync with someone else in your life.
Social media requires so many discretionary decisions that are far more complex than privacy settings. Photos or not? What kind and of whom? Names of partners? Children? Exes? Identifying details about where you work and live? Mentioning the property you bought? What you paid? Ate? Think? Said? How you voted? Who you slept with? The fact your girlfriend has a shocking hangover?
With all those variables, it’s virtually impossible to find two people who calibrate their social media lives exactly the same way.