Previously, I've written an article about the disconnect that occurs due to social media, the very thing that's supposed to keep us more connected. But when do social media and the connectedness it allows cross a line?

Does it cross a line when a picture that sheds oneself in a negative light gets passed around? Does it cross a line when a vicious rumor gets spread about someone? How about when you find out that someone you're related to passes away? This, and other questions, are the core of the issue with social media.

Let's say you decide to log into Facebook before your afternoon class starts. You're scrolling through your friend's posts when you notice that a family member has posted about another family member passing away. Naturally, you're upset over the passing of a loved one, however, at some point, that get's trumped by aggravation that someone couldn't wait to post a status until everyone knew about it.

This is the problem with social media. In allowing us to be consistently connected to each other, there is no more personal aspect to relationships. Everyone knows who is dating who and if you aren't posting pictures of your significant other, people assume you broke up. When someone passes away, we feel the need to type out our heatbreak through inconsiderate statuses, not thinking about the person who may not have received the news yet.

We live in such an interconnected, yet impersonal, society that instead of actually attending an event, we make sure that someone sets up a live feed so we can be there without actually being there...how pathetic is that? We rather sit at home, staring at a computer screen than live in the moment and interact in real time.

We rather make death announcements on Facebook than call up our loved ones and let them know that someone incredibly close to them has passed on. We rely on words typed into a box to convey love, grief, hate, sadness, anger, etc. But are we really expressing those feelings at all? Can you really effectively convey any sort of emotion sitting at a screen and typing?

How void of emotion have we become that instead of calling someone up to tell them bad news, we post it in a status and watch the comments rack up about people who are sending their condolences? Would we rather have 600 people feel sorry for us than let a few people mourn with us through a phone call?

These are just a few things to keep in mind the next time you feel like typing up a status. Think to yourself, if this is something personal, should I be sharing it with everybody or the people who matter? Should I wait to post this, to give everyone time to process or should I let them find out through social media? As someone who has previously shared some very personal things on Facebook as opposed to in person, take it from me. Think before you type.