Recently, Cheng Li had to block another friend on his WeChat account who constantly shared links to various health tips。

近日，程力(音译)不得不屏蔽了一位总是不停分享保健贴士的微信好友。

“At first, they looked useful, but now they’re just cliched,” said Cheng, 22, a Beijing-based reporter. In fact, Cheng is not the only one who has to endure such bombardments on social media platforms, from intimate couple selfies, photos of meals, to bag sales and if-you-don’t-share-this-bad-things-will-happen links。

“起初，这些信息看起来很有用，但现在看来都只是些老生常谈罢了。”这位来自北京的22岁记者说道。实际上，并非只有程力一人忍受着社交媒体上的这种“狂轰滥炸”：从晒情侣肉麻自拍，到晒各种美食照，再到打折包包以及各种“不转发就会有厄运降临”的帖子。

Let’s just say that while sharing is indeed a virtue, oversharing, especially on social media platforms, can not only sour friendships but also hurt career prospects. Experts advise people to maintain a good balance between their private life and their professional life, between sharing and showing off, and between goodwill and annoyances. But it’s a tricky business。

虽说分享的确是种美德，但过度分享，尤其是在社交媒体上过度分享，不仅会伤害友情更是会殃及事业前途。专家建议，人们需要在私生活与职场生活、分享与炫耀、好心与惹人厌之间寻求一种良性平衡。而这是个麻烦事儿。

Identification and false reality

认同与伪造真实

Feng Shanshan, 20, an economics major at the University of International Business and Economics, feels frustrated when she checks her WeChat only to see photos from her friends eating in fancy restaurants or enjoying exotic trips and exciting events. “It feels like I’m a failure with hardly any highlights in my life,” said Feng。

20岁的冯珊珊(音译)是对外经济贸易大学[微博]经济学专业的一名学生。她最近很郁闷，因为一打开微信，满目都是好友晒高级餐厅、出国旅行、参加各种精彩活动的信息。她说：“感觉上我就是一个生活毫无精彩之处的失败者。”

Zhang Yijun, a Shanghai-based psychologist, says this is a common reaction. But the truth is that the information shared online is designed to construct a certain illusion of reality。

来自上海的心理学家张怡筠说，这是一种常见的反应。而事实上，网上分享的信息是人们精心设计出的对现实的粉饰。

“Deep down, sharing anything is showing off,” said Zhang. “But when we see the best side of everyone’s life in such a fragmented way, we tend to connect the pieces and think of them as reality, which can cause an anxiety of missing out or being left out。”

“实际上，任何分享行为都是一种炫耀，”张怡筠表示。“但当我们以一种碎片化的方式来看每个人生活中最好的一面时，我们往往会将这些片段连接起来并认为这就是真实的现实，从而产生一种被忽视或者被隔离的焦虑感。”

Friendship and career at stake

危及友情和事业

Chen Canrui, a psychologist at South China Normal University, says oversharing online undermines effective communication in real life。

华南师范大学心理学专家陈灿锐表示，网络“分享控”行为正在破坏现实生活中实际的沟通。

“Having such easy access to so many people makes communication really superficial,” said Chen. “In the end, the lack of deep communication hurts strong social connections, namely friends, more than weak connections。”

“如此轻而易举地接触到这么多的人，使得沟通交流变得流于表面，”陈灿锐说道。“最终，相对于微弱的社会关系，深度沟通的缺乏更容易令友谊这种强大的社会关系受伤。”

Not only friendships are at stake in the era of oversharing, but career prospects could also be at risk if a good balance between private life and professional life is not maintained。

在一个“分享控”的时代，不仅人与人之间的友情面临考验，如果你不能平衡好个人生活与职场生活间的关系，你的职业生涯也很可能岌岌可危。

“Companies don’t care if you’re oversharing photos of a Habitat for Humanity house you helped build,” Vinda Rao Souza, marketing manager at Bullhorn, a US recruitment software company, told Glassdoor, a US-based job recruitment website. “But they will care if you’re sharing your innermost thoughts on political matters or if you throw around racial epithets。”

招聘软件开发商Bullhorn的市场经理Vinda Rao Souza在接受美国招聘网站Glassdoor采访时称：“如果你只是一味地上传自己参与‘仁爱之家’建房计划的照片，想必没有公司会在意这回事。而他们真正看重的是你就政治热点发表的内心看法，或者看你是否随意使用着涉嫌种族歧视的用语。”

“The biggest thing is to make sure you are aware of the privacy settings and use them,” Pamela Skillings, co-founder of US-based job coaching firm Skillful Communications, told Glassdoor. “You don’t have to give up social media, but you have to understand that what’s available publicly can hurt the professional side of your life。”

美国职业咨询公司Skillful Communications的联合创始人帕梅拉•斯基林告诉Glassdoor网站：“关键是要弄清所有隐私设置，并加以利用。尽管你无需逃离社交媒体，但你必须要弄清哪些公开可见的内容会危害到你的职业生涯。”

Are you an oversharer?

你是“分享控”吗?

With the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) compelling us to update our sharing apps every 15 minutes, we easily become culprits of oversharing annoying contents, ranging from showing off to chicken soup for the soul. Over the weekend, 21st Century conducted a survey through its official WeChat account that received more than 400 responses from readers, most of whom are enrolled students in college and senior middle school. Shopping advertisements ranked top of the most annoying shared contents on social media。

人们由于“社交控情结”(译者注：忙于眼前事的时候，总是害怕会错过更有趣或者更好的人和事)，每隔15分钟便会更新自己的社交网络;这样一来，我们很容易沦为分享无聊内容的“刷屏怪”，从单纯的炫耀到心灵鸡汤不一而足。上周末，《21世纪英文报》在其官方微信上进行了一项用户调查活动，共搜集到400多位热心读者的反馈，这些读者大都是在校大学生及高中生。而购物小广告被票选为“社交媒体最惹人厌的行为”。

The most annoying shared contents on social media:

“社交媒体最惹人厌行为排行榜”

Shopping advertisements: 28%

购物小广告：28%

Superstition and if-you-don’t-share-this-bad-things-will-happen links: 24%

迷信帖以及“不转发就会遭厄运”帖：24%

Complaints: 9%

“抱怨不停”型：9%

Intimate pictures of couples: 8%

秀恩爱：8%

Duplicated chicken soup for the soul: 6%

转发心灵鸡汤：6%

Photoshopped selfies: 6%

自拍加PS：6%

Endless food and meals: 5%

永远是吃吃喝喝：5%

Showing off wealth: 5%

炫富：5%

Health tips: 5%

保健贴士：5%

Overly emotional comments on celebrities: 2%

过于多愁善感的名人语录：2%

Nationalistic news and comments: 1%

国家新闻点评：1%