When you log onto your favorite form of social media
platform to catch up with friends, do you ever wonder what possesses some of
them to share private information so freely and publicly? Interestingly, sharing gossip and
indiscretions is not new. Years ago,
gossip also spread like wildfire via the telephone party line, commonly
called the “grapevine”.
In rural areas,
people literally shared a telephone line.
When the telephone rang, it rang into all homes on that line. Each home had a special ring
signifying the call was for them so they would know to answer. Unfortunately, there was no way to stop
others on the same line from listening in.
Scandalous news passed quickly when an eavesdropper overheard something they
could not wait to share.
In the days of the party line, the intent was not to share personal news (or at least not always). However, today people often live out their personal dramas on Facebook, Twitter and various
other social media platforms, and despite that some may think sharing intimate knowledge via social media is new, it simply has been given a new twist and reinvented.
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