Yesterday, Bartok and I were Gmail Chat musing about how in a world of endless social networks and rapidly decreasing privacy, people seem to feel more and more comfortable in public. An overshare with a virtual public via anonymous blog, twitter or even facebook status (the worst I ever witnessed is a pregnant friend’s status as “Karen is 2.5 centimeters dilated”) is one thing. Yet this mentality appears to be crossing over into the physical realm as well. How much of this ‘my life is an open book via RSS feeds’ can we take on a face-to-face level?

She and I determined that there are certain activities that should take place in private no matter how exposed technology manages to keep our life. Others, probably categorized as outrageously rude in the seventies, are negotiable in 2008.

Example: Putting on make up in public (public like in the subway) is okay. Brushing hair? Not really. Yet hairstyling is okay.

A public telephonic argument depends on the content. If four letter words are expressed multiple times in every sentence, best if it takes place behind closed doors and not in the sidewalk. If the four letter words are in regard to stock prices, who cares?

Changing clothes in public? Not okay. Yet just changing shoes in public is okay. I’m one of the original founders of the flip-flops to heels switcheroo behind a tree one block from your date.

Eating? Okay. Making food? Not okay.

Flossing teeth? Very not okay.

Filing nails? Okay. Cutting nails? Absolutely not.

Plucking eyebrows? Okay.

Picking at skin? Very not okay.

Reading of religious texts out loud, regardless of faith? Not okay.

Eating anything with strong odor (like my favorite bagel with salmon locks, onions and garlic)? Not okay.

Then there are topics that are just never appropriate for an overshare:

Like any bodily discomfort above foot level and below head.

Or sordid fantasies about things like making out with pigeons.

Or creepy self-written poetry.

When the lamely coined “new facebook” reduced my profile to a stalker-friendly newsfeed about my life, I became cognizant of the fact that we’re all living in our own mini-version of The Truman Show. And what does all this oversharing get us?

An arena to word vomit in?

Perhaps an opportunity to connect with likeminded individuals? These niches are definitely the benefit.

Yet with the overshare comes constant judgment. In fact, I’d posit that technology allows us to judge people faster than ever before because facts are so easily accessible. Photos, histories, schools, educational background, photos of ex-boyfriends, are all just a search and click away. It’s harder to truly get to know someone since we spend so much time getting lost in all the factoids, the Google trackbacks, the facebook albums.

Luckily, or perhaps sadly, we have WikiHow to help us with this shit.

WikiHow: How to Get to Know Someone