Your Life Is On My Space

The internet is a great tool. It allows people like me to express the countless thoughts flying through my head in an open forum that may (or may not) be read by unknown readers. It allows us to communicate with others miles away in different states and countries without having to make a phone call. It allows us to get to know people who we would otherwise not meet in our lifetimes. That being said, I wanted to discuss the idea of My Space.

I live in NY. When the media found out that our governor was paying $4000+ a pop for hooker sessions, they naturally wanted to know more about the special woman,. Did they hire a detective like in countless movies or pay for an extensive background check of the woman? Nope! They checked her My Space page and posted it on the evening news.

Yep. The average person has decided (in their infinite wisdom) to post their entire lives on a public page that can be seen worldwide. Stalkers must love being able to view new pictures on their victims and find out what happened today from their blogs (or video logs). More recently, there were reports of kids beating up other kids because of comments posted about each other on My Space.

I have always been amazed at how quickly people at work offer their My Space names to new employees walking through the door. "Hi, I'm Bob, I don't even know if I like you, but you can get to know what a jerk I am if you check out my My Space page!" Why would you do this? Maybe it's a sign of age or just a different way of thinking, but I don't want everyone knowing my personal business. I have several reasons for trying to live a simple, (relatively) honest life, but here are my top 5 reason for not having a My Space page:

1. People instinctively judge you based on the people you associate with. Do you want others to see the dozens of mooks (dictionary.com people) who decided to add you as a friend even though you just met them? What does that say about you?
2. Keeping track of lies is difficult. I have trouble remembering what I did yesterday, let alone who I told a lie to...
3. In the time of identity theft, why would you want ANYONE to know where you work, went to school, relationship status and even (I saw a few of these today) your address and cell phone number?
4. I would hate to be associated with anyone who types things with alternating caps (i.e. "i'M sOoOo kOoL, ArEn'T i????"). This is a personal pet peeve of mine.
5. Everyone is doing it.

Let's be real. Since the internet, we barely talk to each other. Conversations are relegated to texts and emails. We have opted out of significant one on one human connections and instead have chosen multiple electronic connections with people we barely know, only know online or really don't even want to know but are keeping around like a candles in case of a power outage. With all it's advantages and benefits, the internet has actually made us more distant from each other while connecting us socially across larger physical distances. The average person may now know hundreds of people and not know any of them personally since My Space allows only the illusion of familiarity. I may know your favorite artist, pictures of your family, fiancee and who your friends are, but not know if you are trustworthy, charismatic or have any sort of integrity. I won't learn anything about your ethics, or morality but I know you like shopping at Old Navy and work at the supermarket.

Something just seems wrong with that, doesn't it?