Do we talk about everything too much?

Kaity Holtman

Here I am, writing an entire column about talking too much.

I get the irony, but hang in there, while I make my point.

Sometimes when I prepare to write a column, I think … no, I’ve already talked about that. What can I do that’s fresh and interesting?

And something that has come to my mind frequently is that everything is so talked about, sometimes it gets old.

Today’s world of social media and connectedness across the world has conversations about issues, experiences, and even feelings lasting longer and growing into entire movements.

For example, “mommy bloggers” now make careers on talking about every moment in their children’s lives or talking about how to make this or fix that. Entire careers.

Don’t get me wrong, I have utilized a few to look for ideas on sleeping habits or ear infections for Sam. They can be useful.

But there are so many of them, and it seems as if everyone has contradicting information or opinions.

Now that news sources and blogs cover – maybe even saturate – the world wide web, information and opinions are at our fingertips with a Google search of any and every keyword we can think of.

And, as I see all over social media, it is now incredibly easy to find an opinion somewhere that matches our own opinions.

So, instead of doing unbiased research and reading to form logical, well-rounded views, where we can see both sides of whatever that opinion, we can more easily form an opinion, at whichever end of the spectrum we choose. Then we can find others with our same opinions and fuel our fire over and over.

I’m talking about everything from politics, religion, and current events, all the way down to parenting, hunting, and eating meat.

It has driven us apart as a country, even simply as people.

It drives wedges between loved ones, within families and communities.

Talking politics, I consider myself to have a fairly middle-of-the-road mindset on many issues, but there is no option for people like me in the upcoming presidential election.

The louder voices are either one extreme or the other, and much of the nation, I believe, is like me, sitting in the middle, not sure where to, or even if we can in good conscience, cast our votes.

It seems to be that the those with the most extreme viewpoints are the loudest, while those of us in the middle just sit back and watch.

I will admit it is good that comes from having more connected platforms to share our stories.

For example, others can benefit from hearing about someone who is alive today because they made a choice to buckle their seatbelts.

Someone who is talking through a machine in their throat because smoking ruined their health should be talking to high school students about the dangers of using tobacco.

Someone who lost their husband or father in a farming accident should be talking about the importance of farm safety.

But many people are not even experts on or don’t have experience with the topics they’re talking about. They just share links to support opinions they have formed without doing any research.

We have to ask ourselves, how much do we really need to talk about something before we move on and focus on being productive members of society.

A couple of quotes I’ve run across lately have really stuck with me, and I don’t even know who said them, are, “maturing is realizing how many things don’t require your comment,” and “everything doesn’t need to be talked about.”

Doesn’t seem very common in today’s world, does it?

I think of the men in my family when I hear these quotes.

They farm. They don’t talk about how or why they farm. They just do their work day in and day out and move forward.

It’s admirable, really, that they let their work speak for itself.

I also think about when I was pregnant, looking up information about what to expect.

Do you know how easy it was to find blogs about what to expect during labor and delivery?

Way too easy. It was graphic, and while some of it was nice to know, much of it is so private that it’s something every woman just has to go through for herself to really understand.

Not everything needs to be talked about.

I suppose we all have different opinions about what is important and what needs to be talked about, which is what makes us diverse and is what makes information so easy to find online.

But there are somethings better left unsaid, left to the imagination, left private between close family and friends.

That’s my two cents anyway, and I’m sure, in too many words, to prove my point.