Too much information

By Walter GeigerOne day last week, I was performing my morning ritual of getting coffee from a local convenience store to enjoy at my desk while dealing with the daily assault of e-mail – mostly junk. I encountered a woman whom I thought was addressing me.It turned out she was carrying on a phone conversation through some sort of Bluetooth device though I could see neither phone nor earbuds. She cavorted about the store speaking of things most of us would not think of uttering in public and was apparently oblivious to the fact everyone in the store could hear her.She finally left and those of us in the store just shook our heads. ‘Too much information,’ one duly noted though another said he wished he could have heard the other side of the conversation, which, mildly put, seemed to have been a lover’s spat.I have noticed this before. Several times I have heard phone conversations coming from vehicles in which the occupants were listening to their music very loud and did not turn down the volume when the phone call came in. I’m not interested in your music much less the status of your income tax return which one such driver I heard was discussing.The kids’ abbreviation for too much information is TMI and nowhere is TMI syndrome more blatantly displayed than on Facebook where grammatical correctness is a rare thing. Two actual recent posts I read were ‘˜Anyone need any work did around there home’ and ‘˜When do are students go back to school’. The last one was a solid indication that the parent needed to go back to school or at least get involved in some sort of adult education program.In addition to the ubiquitous ‘˜unspoken prayer requests’ and questions about the school calendar parents should already know the answers to, it amazes me how many people discuss their health on such an open forum.It is nothing to see posts from the wee hours saying something like ‘˜I can’t sleep for coughing’ or ‘˜another sleepless night for me’. Is bed wetting next? I actually saw one detailing the effects of ulcerative colitis and what must have been a brutal ride to the hospital for the poor EMTs on duty that night.Maybe its just me but diarrhea and projectile vomiting are just not something I really want to read or hear about at anytime of the day or night.Facebook now has this colored box feature so sick folks can tout their colitis over that of other sufferers by using larger type in a big box with appropriate art. God help us all.That’s TMI. We, at least most of us, don’t care!Rein it in people and get back to the inane cat videos and your child’s Easter dress and leave the colitis and projectile vomiting where they belong – on the lists of possible side effects enumerated on all those prescription drug TV ads.