Monday, April 28, 2008

Privacy in the internet age? No.

From Joannejacobs.com:

Wild Teachers on the Web

Young teachers are discovering that posting sexual jokes, vulgarity, nudity and comments about “retards” in online profiles is not a wise idea, reports the Washington Post.

Here's a snip, but you should read the whole article - this is not the worst thing, but this is a family blog:

Click "View Photos of Erin," and you can see her lying on her back, eyes closed, with a bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila between her head and shoulder. Or click on her "summertime" photo album and see a close-up of two young men flashing serious-looking middle fingers.

"I know that employers will look at that page, and I need to be more careful," said Webster, adding that other Prince William teachers have warned her about her page. "At the same time, my work and social lives are completely separate. I just feel they shouldn't take it seriously. I am young. I just turned 22."

Yeah, she sounds like someone I want my kids around for 6 or so hours a day, 180 days a year. A great role model for your teen, eh?

Am I just too old and stodgy now? Should I think this is OK? Are work life and private life really separate when people splash their private lives all over the 'net?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know why people think they can get away with bad behavior by saying that their private life is separate from their work. Your character is your character no matter where you are. Let's retire the excuses.

kerri @ gladoil said...

The internet is not private! Good grief, would you put pictures like that up on a bulletin board at church?

When S. started her blog I told her if she couldn't talk about it in front ofher best friend's older brothers at a lunch table at church, then she can't talk about it on the internet.

edwardherda said...

There you go, being judgmental :P J/K. Yeah, the Internet is the least private place in the world. A simple query using any of your favorite search bars will reveal loads of info — so why flaunt it?

Being knee deep in the Web on a daily basis, I get learn some insights into why people behave the way they do online, and it's more than simply "work" vs. "private" life. There's now the "Internet," or "social" life. This is a place where people put on different hats, test out personalities. People are even less inclined to be themselves in these online venues, but more so, be people they are not.

And parents beware. Having done spells of research on different demographic's online habits, one of the biggest for youth is to try on different hats. While a child may have a blog as themselves, they might also have a profile as a contrived personality.

Marbel said...

Yo Edward, I prefer the term "opinionated." My mother was like that too. :-)