In The Age of Over-Sharing, Are Our Thoughts Every Really Our Own?

We’re living in an age where public opinion is in overdrive, and everywhere you turn people are sharing their unfiltered opinions about the latest news event, celebrity drama, or current debate. We’ve never had more insight into the workings of our minds, never had more opportunity to express our opinions, yet we still need constant distraction from the mundanity of life. Overthinking and over-sharing is plentiful in this day and age. But in this age of sharing too much too often, are our thoughts ever really our own?

With the rise of the internet, smartphones, and social media; we’re all brain dumping on a daily, sometimes hourly basis, whether intentional or not. Why do we suddenly feel the need to share so much? With mental health problems rising, it’s no wonder we’re drawn to activities that offer us nonstop distraction. In the 21st century much of our thinking is shaped by social media; Netflix, algorithms, and news that we curate to suit our individual tastes. Our couch potato brains are now satisfied by things that don’t necessarily make us think for ourselves anymore – original thinking is slowly dying.

Human brains are overly adept at taking in information and making sense of it, and the world around us. But sometimes our brains simply cannot keep up with processing everything, and we become over stimulated and stressed. Is there any point to all of this non-stop commentary and over-sharing in the end? With new technologies the world seems to grow closer together, but in facts grows further apart. Most of us believe that our thoughts are sacred, private, and our own. Our minds used to be bulletproof and impossible to crack, but not so much anymore. In retrospect, cutting down on all of the noise and becoming less distracted may allow us to keep close what’s important.

We’re all pretty confident that we know what’s going on in our own heads, and our private internal worlds. If you’re not aware of your thinking patterns and train of thought, then the 24/7 overload of information can become unbearable. We assert ourselves by obsessively telling the world what we think when we think it – sometimes with no filter. Maybe we feel the need to over-share to protect ourselves against the disturbing realisation that our thoughts are no longer our own? Who knows.  If we took more time to pause and live in the moment, then maybe just maybe we’ll reclaim our thoughts as our own. 

Written by J’Nae Phillips

Follow J’Nae on Twitter & Instagram

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