It's great that so many of us have taken to social media with such ease that it's effortlessly become part of us and what we do.
But could there ever be a time when things just go too far?
I think so. Take a look at my list of 'don't-do-evers' ... do any sound familiar?
You want to tweet through childbirth
Granted, the whole process of a baby making his or her way into this world can take a long time so it's understandable that you may want to hop onto Facebook while you're waiting for things to heat up. But once you're on the final stretch please don't be tempted to hand your smartphone to your significant other in order to photographically journal your new little bundle's first public appearance.
I know it's the most wonderful, miraculous thing... but it's happened to others before you (sorry). And no, it's still not OK even if it's pixellated.
Just don't.
You're at a funeral and you're Facebooking your grief
Sadly I'm not making this up. People have been known to publish (thoughtfully tagging the location of the crematorium just in case you want to 'like' it) how they're gathering to reflect and remember someone who was cruelly taken too early .
Honestly? It's never too early to take the offending smartphone away, and to cruelly stamp on it so that Facebook is no more. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.
You drunk-tweeted and you can't remember what you said
Firstly, let me say it's never a good idea to turn to social media whilst under the influence, for obvious reasons. But if you do and you wake in the morning with a sense of dread looming overhead because you know you said something but the detail is not only blurry, it's non-existent... There's a fair chance you've started 'reflex-tweeting'. In other words, it goes hand-in-hand with breathing in and out; you're doing it without thinking.
Bad sign. Time for a black coffee and a long stern chat with yourself
Your Facebook friends know how proud you are of your kids ... but your kids don't
You know those people who publicly post how much they love their child/husband/etc., (and tag them so that their child/husband/etc. can see how much they publicly love them) whilst no doubt the objects of their affection are merely a few feet away? That's social media 'gone real bad', as my people say.
There's actually no need to tag your loved ones, if you put the phone down and tell them. To their face. It's novel but apparently people did it years ago and they say it worked.
You live-tweet from the bathroom
Aside from the obvious danger of accidentally dropping your smartphone down the toilet (I know, right?), you really have to ask yourself this question: "how do I keep my handset germ-free?"
No, actually that wasn't the question.
There is no question. You're tweeting in the bathroom. There doesn't need to be a question. Just a long, hard quizzical stare from me with one eyebrow raised. My left eyebrow.
In conclusion (and to be serious for one moment), there are times when it is absolutely not appropriate to turn to social media. Please retain your sense of real-life, and resist the temptation to 'go public' on every last thread of your existence.
As a very wise person once said ... "Social media is a tool; don't let yourself become one."