Volunteering To Be Stalked (AKA Twitter)

So everyone who has ever wanted to be part of the internet community ever knows all the warnings about, "Be general with what you say" "Don't give away personal information" and "No one is who they seem on the internet." The digital world can be a seedy place. Just look at (this is where some sort of technology or internet joke would go if I could actually think of one). And it's true that you need to be careful on the web.

That being said, I find it amusing just how much we do put online. Just look at Facebook. Yes, it is protected by varying levels of security and you can choose who sees what. But how many people put their contact info on it? Their school? Their class schedule? The times they're at work? All of that information would make it easy to find someone and stalk them. And not the good kind of stalking. The kind that ends up with you duct taped in the back of a van headed for the Mexican border.

Now at this point, maybe someone protests. They say, "But I make sure that only my friends can see my contact info." Okay, good point. However, a lot of people add friends to their list that they've never met. Often this serves the purpose of getting a bigger house or clan or hunting party or karaoke gaggle for whatever app you're playing (I play Sorority Life. Yes, I find this sad. But I get to play dress-up!) Yes, you can delete the people right after they're part of your house, but they still can see your information for a little while.

Or perhaps you simply get a request from someone saying they saw your profile and thought you seemed cool. Or they're trying to network with people in their area. Or they're your aunt's niece's best friend's high school sweetheart and decided to add you. Or they simply say they went to school with you and can't believe you don't remember them (can you tell I have the imagination of a serial killer? Not so much with the death part but with finding people).

Now these people have access to that contact info. Or even if you don't put up contact info, they have access to any number of posts, pictures, and details about your life. Kind of freaky when you think about it isn't it?

This post is not to condemn the whole idea of social networking. I love my Facebook. I love being able to easily see what's going on with people in my life. And I'm definitely not going to get rid of it just because someone, someday, might use it against me.

But isn't it kind of crazy the things we air online for everyone to see? With Facebook, people know the moment you enter a relationship with someone else (at least if you change your status as most people do). People you only have a passing relationship with know far more about you than they usually would. Some people have knock down, drag out fights over a status comment. Things that used to be kept private or shared with people you knew best/saw often are now put up for everyone in your friends list of 300 people to comment on.

And pictures? I heard somewhere that you should never do anything you don't want to see on Facebook, because that's where it will end up. Every embarrassing thing you ever do somehow manages to show up on the internet at some point. At which point, the most conservative of your church's ladies and any future love interest is sure to see it.

And depending on who your friends are, you have to sensor yourself anyway or be prepared to face the consequences. I have many people from my church as my friends and sometimes I pause and ask myself how they'll react to a certain phrasing. Usually I go ahead and post it how I was going to say it anyway because I don't want to set up a front for who I am and how I think, but that second of hesitation is something I never would have thought I'd need.

Again, this is not a post to demonize the internet. I am a child of the digital age and I know my life would be far different if it didn't exist. Not necessarily bad, since I am complete believer in the power of books, but definitely different. The World Wide Web allows me to stay connected with family and friends and it allows me to write. Having a blog lets me develop my voice and get instant responses to my thoughts. It's really, really cool.

The post instead is more a musing. A "isn't this kind of crazy?" post. And maybe a warning to be careful who you trust online and what you allow others to see. I actually developed a false name linked with email accounts just for her so that I could hide a little more easily online (because I was kind of paranoid that someone would track the name back to an email account that had my real name and then follow that to who I really am). I still use the name every now and then when I'm not entirely sure of who will see what I'm doing on a site. But I won't give away the name here ;) Surf safely. :)