I sometimes wonder who’s reading my posts because I just read an LA Times article about some college administrators reviewing applicants’ online profiles as a part of the admittance process.
Your Reputation @nline
Of course I’m not applying to college but that just makes me think. I know some people that live multiple lifestyles. The one lifestyle at church with the good hearted souls. The one lifestyle at school where there’s teachers and friends; or the one at work living in “harmony” with co-workers. And also the one lifestyle at night with the “partaying” crowd. But I know those people can never imagine acting like they were at a party in front of their preacher. Or acting all studious like they were at school in front of their party-goers.
So doesn’t that make you think?
When you post something online with your name next to it it will be there forever. When a friend posts a picture of you drunk and lying unconscious on the floor that means it’s also there online for everyone else to see. Even if it is on facebook, you have all your friends on there from all the different groups looking at the same set of wall posts, pictures, comments etc. Even for those of us that don’t party, our opinions posted online give off an impression of who we are to those that are reading about us.
Our Life Permanently Online?
That’s the one thing we all need to realize. As much as we like conversation and taking our social desires online, we all need to realize that our life’s resume is online. And probably online quite permanently. The internet is like a huge archeological site where anyone can just “google” your name and find out quite a lot of artifacts about you, both what you may or may not want them to see.
Stepping on my own feet…
I’m probably stepping on my own foot just talking about this subject on this post. I’m not going to tell anyone to be careful online or think twice about posting. But remember when there was all that ruckus about President Obama being able to use his blackberry and sending/receiving emails as President? Based on the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which requires that documents retained by the White House must be released to the public, will mean that all electronic communcunications of the President is going to be public. Well, for the rest of us the things we put online is already mostly public.
We are who we are
Again, I’m not telling people to hide themselves online because the very value of our social lives is freely being the person we are. It’s just I think most of us don’t realize the things we do online eventually become a digital history that remains at least on someone’s computer for someone to view as long as the internet exists. Can you imagine 15 years from now you can probably search online for the 2024 Presidential candidate that was born in the late 1970s and find his (or her) MySpace page or Xanga blog? Do you think that person right now has the foresight to realize that his picture standing on a beer keg posted online may affect his political future and how other’s see him as a responsible person?
You’re responsible, but we’re just normal people
Not all of us will be looking to be the leader of the free world, but some of us may aspire to be more than what we are today. And when those (be it voters or our bosses or college admissions officers) that make decisions about our future see our online profiles we have all our history online to be responsible for. I try to keep things open like our President advocates transparency. So after reading this, I hope that for those who have concerns about multiple-alternate lifestyles to maybe live their lives in way where there’s nothing to hide. And for those that are reading about us online should first realize we’re all just regular people before passing judgment upon an incident that may not seem as it looks.
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