Google Me

If you read my introductory blog then you all know I work a variety of jobs. With this economy everyone is turning into "Hey Mon” from In Living Color. For the most part, I try my hardest to keep the jobs as separate as possible, but sometimes they intertwine thanks to a little thing called the Internet. Not to tell my age (then again you already know lol), but does anyone remember when there wasn't an Internet? Don't get me wrong, the Web has been an absolute blessing for me; there is no better tool for mass self-promotion. However, it does get a little odd when people you work with come up to you and say I "googled” you today. How do you respond to that? I know some people as soon as they meet someone they immediately look them up on the Internet and then they get upset about what they did or did not find out. I understand when you put yourself out there you compromise some of your privacy, but where is the line drawn?

My mother always told me to "tell people what you want them to know.” The key word in that phrase is "want.” When you have other agencies literally giving out your personal information it becomes a hard thing to do. Is it fair to have information volunteered about you that you consider private? Depending on whom you ask, some people would say yes, but in most cases it would pertain to finding out information about another individual not themselves. We as a society have come to depend on the Internet, or for that matter technology period, like we depend on air to breathe. I don't give out my phone number anymore, just my e-mail address lol. Like most things, the Internet has its positive and negatives. For instance, a positive is being able to know that a convicted sex offender has just moved into your neighborhood. A negative is someone being able to find your credit report (that's an entirely different blog lol). My question to you is if you've just met someone and the next time they see you, they let you know or let it slip that they've looked you up on the INTER-net, would you see them again?

"Privacy was in sufficient danger before the internet appeared, and the internet has given it its death blow" - Anonymous