Social media - Are we too connected?

So I conducted a little social experiment (and maybe lost a few facebook friends).  For just one hour I changed my status on Facebook to "Exciting news...Guess What?"

I knew I'd get a reaction and a handful of comments guessing baby news. What I got was a virtual facebook riot. Literally.  In just 30 minutes I received 8 texts, 55 comments, and a phone call from my mother asking if I was pregnant. Wow. In 30 minutes. That's almost 2 comments every minute, friends were putting their lives on hold to hear news from me. Dishes unwashed, children waiting to go to bed. I was completely overwhelmed.  We're so connected in our society that in just minutes my friends, acquaintances and family were pulled into my life.

I think this intense level of connectedness makes some people uneasy.  The thought that your private information could easily be spilled to so many people with very little effort makes a lot people want to protect themselves.  If a simple status of "Guess What??" can trigger a flurry of comment, texts and phone calls imagine what could happen if someone were to target you.  Our lives are intertwined so much so that I can't even imagine my life before these social networks existed.

The social media world has made me feel connected. I feel connected to my community, my family and friends. I've developed friendship with people that I barely know in real life, but have found commonalities with online. I feel as though I actually know the businesses I frequent, they have a personality and a story. I've connected with so many online friends and learned so from people that I will never meet. I think that's pretty incredible.

The conclusion I came to about this facebook experiment was that I'm happy all those people wanted to know my news.  I know if I was announcing bad news (which I've had to do in the past) those same people would do just about anything to help me get through it.  Maybe in this case it was overwhelming.  But most of the time I feel as though my facebook friends as well as my momstown friends are just widening my support network that is so important to me.  

And I guess I should formally apologize to my poor facebook friends who hung on for an hour while I tested my theory.  Thanks for not unfriending me : )