Woman in China threatens to ditch fiancé for oversharing personal life on WeChat reigniting debate on social media addiction

One day in November last year, he posted more than 10 items on WeChat, including an image of a lazy cat to “demonstrate my spiritual status today”, a picture of leaves falling on the ground with the caption “one would easily feel sad and dismal in autumn” and a post to recommend trying a dish called wine preserved crab.

Chen said he enjoys replying to people’s comments about his online posts because it enhances his communication with others.

He often shares photos of his girlfriend, whom he has been dating for three years, but she does not like it and frequently asks him to delete them.

“If you insist on sharing so much about your everyday life on WeChat, I will break up with you,” she told him.

Chen said he does not understand why his girlfriend dislikes posting on social media.

“It helps me make more friends. What’s wrong with that?” He asked.

His fiancée said overactive social media sharing makes it look like he is not focusing on his job and his real life.

“You play with your mobile phone all the time and it means you are slack in your work. Is your real life as wonderful as you describe in your online posts?” She asked.

“It’s better to spend your efforts on your work and real life, rather than trying so hard to think what to post on social media,” she added.

The story of Chen’s enthusiasm for WeChat posting trended on mainland social media and received 150,000 comments on Douyin alone.

“A person who loves sharing on social media is passionate about his life. At least he is not a workaholic,” one online observer said.

“It’s good to post on WeChat because you will remember those happy days when browsing your social media account many years later,” another person wrote.

One online observer held a different view: “It’s too much to release over 10 posts online a day, especially about trivial things. If I had a friend like that on WeChat, I would block his posts.”