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Why It’s a Bad Idea to Merge Your Social Groups
In the intelligence community, classified information is protected by compartmentalization — meaning you only get access to particular compartments in order to do your job, based on your “Need to Know”.
No one person has access to everything. This limits the amount of damage any one person could potentially cause if they were to go rogue.
I think about social groups in the same way. And I learned this lesson the hard way a long time ago.
Back when I was in high school, I was painfully shy. But when I went on to college, I instantly became more social. And it felt like a super power to me, because everywhere I went I was meeting people. It seemed like I could talk to just about anybody.
I was most thrilled when I befriended shy or socially awkward people. I’d help bring them out of their shell, and introduce them to other people, and then THEY would become friends. Then they were no longer lonely.
As time went by, my social circle grew and grew, and I thought this was awesome. We’d have a party, and everyone I knew was there. Everyone was there because of me.
Next night, another party. Everyone there was connected because of me.
This went on for years. Everyone I met, I immediately introduced them to everyone I…
