My Public Private Facebook Life.

Being child of the nineties, I'm a little culture shocked by the virtual world I live in. I used to get in trouble for writing on the walls. Now I can write on my grandma's wall and she's happy about it! Text wasn't something you did it was something you read. I had "pen pals" not "contacts." we received letters not text messages. My "inbox" and "outbox" were one in the same, the family mailbox out by the road. I knew I had mail when a truck stopped and stuck something inside, and I knew my "message has been sent" if the man in the truck laid down my mailbox's little red flag.

 It seems so weird that computers and the internet are so much a part of our lives now that we can be so deeply affected by them.  I mean, now, everyone is  on the internet doing everything from paying bills and going to school to getting famous on YouTube and dating on facebook. It's not just the boring world wide web anymore. It's not just the glorified encyclopedia or yellow pages of the 90's. It's not just a means to send "electronic mail" to friends and family that only they will read. Cyberspace has evolved into virtual world, an extension of our lives.

Recently, KAIT, my local news station, had a story about a  Marine who lost his job and all his benefits for talking badly about the military on his apparently "private" facebook page, and I'm sure you've heard at least the rumor that some employers are beginning to ask for social media passwords in order to "get a better insight as to who you are." I've gotten in trouble at work and school before for a facebook status update, and at first, it really made me angry! I mean, what does it matter what I post on my "private facebook page?! What's my boss, the president of my college, or my professor doing snooping around on my page?! It's a little juvenile don't you think for people to get so worked up about what I put up on a stupid social media page don't ya think?

That just seems absurd to this child from the 90's! fired for their electronic mail! in trouble because of a website they visited on the world wide web?  Yes it's a shocker and hard to stomach. It's hard to imagine that could ever be fair, but let's think about this.

 I don't know the statistics, but I think it would be reasonable to assume that a huge percentage of the population is on Facebook or other social media like Twitter, Google+, etc. Our society is increasingly more technologically dependent and the internet has crept into almost every part of life. In a way, we live there now. We each have our very own online life, and that online life, depending on how active and personalized we make it, is just as much a reflection on our character as what we do and say in real life. If you share even part of your life in the virtual world, that part you share is still a part of who you are. If you cuss people out on their facebook page or say ugly things about your boss, don't be surprised if someone gets upset or if you find yourself in hot water in the real world. If you post pictures of yourself naked or drunk at the bar, don't be surprised if find your self getting hit on by characters of a baser sort. You didn't "virtually" get drunk or naked did you? and you weren't really having fun right? that face in picture was just a pose? .....right. Mhhhmmmmm.

Have fun and do your thing, but just remember the song from sunday school.

Oh be careful little mouth what you say
Oh be careful little mouth what you say.....