Too Much Information (TMI)

Are you guilty of putting Too Much Information (TMI) online? Probably, right? If you’re a human who has been online more than about 15 minutes, you probably are a little guilty of the occasional TMI moment.

Putting too much information online has been a time-honored tradition since the early days of the Internet. The Usenet groups and BBS systems of the good old days of the web were a boiling mass of TMI, and the blogs and social networks of today are no different. From stories about being dooced to YouTube videos about drunk people getting caught by others acting, well, like drunk people act… the Internet gives us many examples of what not to do. But people still keep giving the rest of us too much information.

Samples of TMI include:

• Work:

  It’s not a good idea to talk trash about your boss, much less putting it online for the world to see. Avoid this TMI no-no and avoid waiting in line for your unemployment check.

• Home:

  The last thing you want is for your spouse to know that you do, in fact, think that she looks fat in that dress. This TMI tip keeps you out of the dog house.

• Friends:

  What happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas, and a TMI slip up getting back home just might force you to find a new best friend. Or maybe a new place to live.

• Family:

  Venting online about people like your neighbor or your your Mother-In-Law on Facebook may seem like a good idea. Unless you forget that they follow you on Facebook, or that someone they’re close with follows you. Do that and you could have some awkward conversations in your near future.

• Strangers:

  A potentially dangerous example of TMI is anything that tells people where you live or when you’re going somewhere on a trip. You may as well put a welcome sign out for crooks.

• Personal:

  Possibly the worst kind of TMI, nobody wants to know about what happened in your bathroom or in your bedroom. Just don’t do it.

Keeping the aforementioned in your head and not on your blog or Facebook page will do wonders to keep your family, friends, and co-workers from being exposed to too much information.