Caught me by surprise too – smoaster – what the hey does that mean, I asked myself? Being all things food and drink, I though perhaps it was something to do with s’mores or boasting at the water cooler, but it isn’t. Apparently, it’s unnecessary boasting on social media, which begs the question – is there any boasting on social media that is necessary? Probably not, I suppose.
Examples of smoasting would be something like:
* Having a great day! Not vs. having had a bad day previously, but just trumpeting for no rhyme or reason that you’re having a great day. Necessary? Not likely.
*Smoasting repeatedly about your session at the gym, ’Did abs today!’ or ‘Shoo, some workout’ – again, probably unnecessary.
*Boasting about your child’s achievements, no matter how mundane or insignificant to others. Your 19 month old just counted to 10. Something to be proud of? Absolutely! Necessary to smoast about? Again, unlikely.
Consistent self-congratulatory smoasting is bad enough, but smoasting about your children could be potentially dangerous.
I wonder whether our need to feel liked and accepted overcomes our common sense in such instances. If you’re posting endlessly about your new born; toddler or worse, setting them up with their own social media account, is this akin to displaying your child on a huge billboard in Hyde Park? And if it is, would you do so?
Perhaps I’m being a little serious and Mother Grundy about this, but perhaps, also, this is something to consider when you’re next tempted to smoast about every single minutia in not only, your own life, but that of your kids.
As for me, I’m heading up to the water cooler to smoast about how I learnt a new word today. Trendy, me!
