"I am going to lose weight this year" used to be one of the top New Year's resolutions that people spouted off around December 27th, but these days resolutions are popping up that seem more selfless.

There are now Facebook groups urging people to make their resolution recycling more and that's pretty understandable in this world where folks are nuts about "going green," but imagine if people actually did it.


Kermit the Frog once said, "it's not easy being green," but honestly, how hard can it be? Recycling is probably easier for a lot of people than shedding those extra pounds all of those holiday sweets put on, so maybe people will do it.

It is also a statement about the selfishness/ selflessness of Americans. Usually resolutions are about improving our own lives - quitting smoking, sleeping enough, working harder, saving money - but people seldom walk around saying "I am going to improve the world this year!" If you hear someone say that, BEWARE: it is probably for show.


I can actually see the world going in the direction of setting goals that will help the greater good. If enough people aren't making their resolutions helping other people by "going green," why not start that trend? A little environmental protection never hurt anyone. And don't forget that you don't need a new year to start setting goals.

Whatever your New Year's resolution is, have a happy and healthy year.

These days, everyone has Facebook. Seriously, some people are even creating accounts for their pets and unborn children. But one thing all of these Facebookers have in common is oversharing.

I’m not talking about peoples' daily routines or anything, but oversharing that is inappropriate, humiliating or just plain mean. There should be an assumption that everyone has a Facebook account and everyone can read what you write or view the pictures you post, yet people continue to blog about a classmate they dislike or the amount they drank over the weekend.

 

A few weeks ago, a group of teen girls at Choate Rosemary Hall school in Wallingford wrote a thread of Facebook posts detailing their sexual activates in addition to harsh criticism of their peers, thinking that no one would see them, but they were wrong. See the story below.

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/10/23/news/metro/doc4cc3b2253241a806288012.txt

Not posting these things on the Internet will not stop hateful comments and salacious speech between teen girls, but there will be less of a chance of hurting others. People have quit their jobs or been fired for things that they have posted on Facebook assuming that no one will read them. Fellow Facebookers will read your posts, just as you read theirs when you have nothing better to do and there could be repercussions as a result.

There is also another type of oversharing. The kind that is a blatant status update. The person posting it thinks makes them look cool but really, it makes the reader cringe a bit.

Oversharing can be hurtful, rude and potentially dangerous to peoples' employment opportunities or academic lives. Quit the trend and help reverse it by posting positive things that you want others to know about. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech, but not hate speech. And positive posts will get better responses from everyone, or at least your mom who does not want to know what you did with your boyfriend last Friday or the last time you got black out drunk.