Marksonland

Why do people act like children online? This drives me nuts. People updating their twitter/ facebook status with relatively banal things, but doing so with the enthusiasm of a young child. Status updates like "Woo hoo - about to be eat a chocolate chip cookie - so happy!!" make me batty. (Not a real update, but you see stuff like this all the time.) Sometimes they are worse and actually invoke a modified form of child speak (awesome sauce!).

Really? Ok, so you like cookies. I get it. But you had to stop whatever you were doing (presumably eating said cookie) to tell me about it? You were that enthusiastic about a cookie? A child is head over heels giddy when they get a cookie and that's awesome.

But you’re an adult. You’ve had 1,000 cookies. Your enthusiasm must have waned. And here's the rub: I don't actually believe that offline that you are dancing around about your cookie. Sure, you’re mildly pleased no doubt, but you’re not shouting from the mountaintops about it. But online you carry on like you hit the lottery? Why the difference?

A person’s online presence is the broadcast of himself or herself, presumably one that is supposed to put them in a positive light. Why do people think acting like an enthusiastic 6 year old about an uneventful occurrence puts them in a positive light?

Tell you what: want the world to see you positively? Act like an adult. Say something funny, witty, creative, smart or just honest. Don't take some silly every day occurrence and post something that makes you sound like an 8 year old. That doesn’t make you look positive.

Some people theorize that Americans are being infantilized by the powers at be. This includes the government and employers. Take care of our creature comforts and we will pledge our loyalty. Perhaps the childlike online persona is really who we are - I sure hope not.