Weddings on social media

Going through my mid- twenties, it’s been about two or even three years since all my close friends have found their significant others and decided to get married. It’s been about two years ever since I started attending weddings as a spare time activity.

In the past, if you were to get married, you only affected your close friends and your family members, but it seems that this has changed a lot in the past few years. This is mainly because most people have no clue on how exactly social media works and they seem to think that it’s appropriate to post every single detail of your life online. And since social media also allows us to check up on friends of our friends, I feel like I’ve become acquainted with dozens of people I have nothing in common with.

For instance, Nadia has just announced her engagement on a social network. I don’t personally know Nadia, nor is she my friend on said social network, but I still find out about the happy event, how it took place, when and where, because Nadia is friends with George, a former high school classmate of mine with whom I haven’t spoken for years, but am friends on this social network. A couple of clicks latter and I also find that Nadia has already set the date for her wedding and a couple of days later people start congratulating her on her pregnancy.

You should all keep in mind that I have never asked for this type of information, nor do I know what to do with it. Now I’m not quite sure if it’s Nadia’s fault for sharing all the details of her personal life and not caring that complete strangers have access to it, or if it’s the fault of the social network for having a less than thoughtful privacy policy.

The bottom line here is that when you get to be my age, Nadia is not a singular case. There are tens and maybe hundreds of Nadias out there and even if you want it or not, you still get to find out things about their lives. And for those of us who use social networks strictly to keep in touch with our close friends, for those of us who are extremely careful what they post on social networks, this is definitely one of the most annoying things.

So my advice would be to take a page out of our parents’ book and learn how to be discreet about certain events in our lives. Not everyone is interested in your wedding ring, your wedding cake or how you stumbled on the dance floor during your first dance as husband and wife. These are your memories and it would be best if you would keep them for yourself.