Avoiding an Open Life: The Case Against Over-Sharing on Social Media

Sometimes, findings from one area of psychology can illuminate something overlooked in another area. One example of this, which helps us understand digital behaviours, are the findings in environmental psychology about office planning. Turns out, the effects of working in an open-plan office on mental health and wellbeing illustrate similar dangers of opening up to all on social media.

Over-sharing on social media and mental health

An increasingly common phenomenon in videos posted on social media is people, often young women, discussing their own mental health issues. This phenomenon is troubling for many reasons, especially important among these is the issue of over-sharing highly personal information with people who they cannot possibly know.

When the issue is sharing personal data, the advice of authorities and social media companies is very clear: Do not do this. When the issue is sharing inappropriate images of oneself, the advice of all authorities is: Do not do this. Indeed, in some cases, resharing could be a criminal act. However, any advice that is given concerning over-sharing of personal information regarding mental health and wellbeing does not seem to attract the same level of publicity, if it exists at all.

Apart from attracting bullying and/or malicious fake interest which could exacerbate mental health problems, or, at the very least, attract damaging prurient interest from uncaring voyeurs, research on the open-plan office illustrates potential problems with over-sharing on social media.

The notion of creating and maintaining boundaries to protect mental wellbeing is well established. We may be prepared to share certain levels of information, and no more, with particular people, depending on our relationship with them. The importance of maintaining such privacy is established for robust mental health. The negative impacts of working in open-plan office spaces on these vital areas of self-preservation have been known for several decades. What implications can be extrapolated from this research to the impacts of effectively creating an "open plan life" on social media?

Implications of open-plan offices

For many interested in the psychology of digital behaviour, the implications of open-plan offices are not really a topic at the forefront of thought or discussion. Yet the literature on that topic is large—perhaps unsurprisingly when the amounts of money invested in these buildings are considered.

Open-plan offices are inflicted on workforces in many businesses—a justification often being that they lead to improved communication between staff. Of course, it should also be considered that they are cheaper, and offer employers a degree of surveillance over staff not necessarily available in traditional "private cell" offices.

In many studies, individuals working in private cell offices rate the quality of their environment¹, and of their mental health², as higher than workers in open-plan offices. When physical and mental health are considered, the lowest reported health status is found in workers in small and medium-sized open plan offices, and the best health outcomes are noted in private cell offices². These findings are several years old, and they may be even truer now after the recent pandemic.

The key aspects of the private cell office associated with heightened ratings of environmental quality and mental health are fewer attentional distractions, more personal space, and increased levels of privacy^1,3.

A review of the literature³ suggests that a very strong desire for privacy exists among employees. Central to this desire is the matter of controlling the information flow about the self.

Indeed, the ability to regulate what others know is a strong moderator of stress. Control over the information available about the self in an environment can lead to a reduction in the negative effects of stressors.

The open-plan office vs. the "open-plan life"

So, what analogies can be drawn for the trend to post information about personal mental health status in the digital environment? Clearly, a negative aspect that becomes readily apparent is the complete loss of privacy. This is coupled with a loss of ability to control the flow of information about the self.

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Posting a video about their own mental health may seem like a volitional act, in which a person deliberately puts out the information that they want to share. In this way, it could be argued that control has been taken by the sharer. However, this is not the key issue of control needing consideration. It is not the nature of the shared information, per se, that is problematic, or who has posted it—it is who has access to that information, and how that access can be controlled. Both of these latter aspects of control are reduced on social media, just as they are in the open-plan office.

We all share highly personal information with some people—if we are lucky—but these people are few and far between. We maintain our privacy and control by maintaining our boundaries—we pick the people with whom we share, and not just what information we share. However, once such information is posted on social media, all control over the flow of that information is relinquished, just as control over the flow of information about the self is made harder in an open-plan office.

As the literature from environmental studies suggests, reduction in control over access to personal information is a predictor of worse mental health. It is worth remembering that this finding arises from contexts where the key concern is not necessarily bullying and predatory behaviour but the fact that control over the self has been lost.

Examining our digital lives in the context of aspects of our real lives can very illustrate the dangers inherent in using social media to air personal issues. It may feel to the young, and possibly naïve, that the social media sharer will find understanding from like-minded people in the digital realm. The reality is that they typically find voyeurs, bullies, and psychopathic predators. Of just as great, but less discussed, concern is that they will necessarily find that, once shared, they cannot control the spread of the information. It is this loss of control over privacy that can eventually lead to depression and even trauma.

As with all things digital, the key here is not to share personal information, however initially attractive the attention or sympathy might be. Ultimately, the research suggests that it can lead to psychological harm. The open-plan life, just like the open-plan office, has its negative effects.