Friday, December 9, 2011

Privacy, Schmivacy...this is the Internet!

Everything you put online is saved, somewhere, for posterity. If you send your pixelated words into cyberspace, they will be preserved, ever available somewhere in that vast virtuality, for a clever someone to stumble upon.

Those drunk tweets? Uh-huh. They are now archived at the Library of Congress. Betcha didn't know you were that important, huh? Just think, future generations of Internet Archaeologists might read your Merlot mad-cappery!

Rather chilling, huh? Try not to think about it too much. I'd hate for you to get so paralyzed at the idea of cyber immortality that you're unable to comment here.

Or *cough* at the Debutante Ball, where I'm discussing privacy issues in social media. (Um, that sounds rather dry, doesn't it? I promise it's not quite as dull as I've just made it sound. I hope.)

So, tell me, have you ever sent words into cyberspace that you long to call back? Do you sometimes wish fervently for this:


Come on, spill! Inquiring minds want to know. :D

17 comments:

Teri Anne Stanley said...

Who, me? Never. Oooh boy.

I can only thank the Great Gods of Whatever that there was no Facebook, Twitter, or People of Walmart.com when I was in college.

Patrick Alan said...

What drunk tweets?

abby mumford said...

i'm with teri, i'm glad these social medias weren't around when i was in college. things could have gotten messy.

Kimberly Sabatini said...

Yeah, I try not to think about it too much either. Bound to come back and bite me in the ass eventually.

julie fedderson said...

Scary thought. I have a feeling future civilizations will not understand the mundane things I found exciting in the 21st century.

Diane Henders said...

Me? Write things I might regret later? Uhhhh... none that I remember...

Sometimes I get a little unrestrained on my blog, but that's small potatoes compared to some of what I've seen out there. Maybe the rock stars and celebrities have it figured out: be as outrageous as possible in person, so that when some written indiscretion surfaces, everybody just yawns and says, "Yeah, same old, same old."

Somebody else go first. I'll watch. :-)

LD Masterson said...

My older grandkids are moving into the cell phone and social media stage. I keep trying to explain this to them.

Carol Kilgore said...

Whoever invents an unsend-wipe-it-from-everywhere-forever button will be a gazillionaire overnight.

Patsy said...

Yes - I'm suffering the consequences now. I said I'd do my mad advent of competition winningness (I actually thought it was a brilliant idea at the time) Oh well, today's post is good - I got someone else to write it ;-)

Linda G. said...

Teri Anne -- No kidding! It would be tough navigating adolescence now.

Patrick -- *holds up mirror* Remember those martinis? You were mighty entertaining on Twitter!

Abby -- Exactly.

K-pop -- This is why I make it a point to always wear ass armor.

Julie -- OTOH, they may just find it fascinating. Or, God forbid, quaint.

Diane -- It doesn't count if you can't remember it. At least, that's my story. ;)

LD -- Good luck! :)

Carol -- Don't you know it!

Patsy -- Ha! I'll have to go check it out. :)

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

Not exactly. There was a time, though, that I got an email from a guy pal of ours, and before responding, I wanted to run it past my husband. Called him "sweetie", and may or may not have said something that's perfectly appropriate to say to one's spouse in that email, but unfortunately, I inadvertently sent it to the guy pal as well. (He STILL calls me sweetie whenever we see him ...)

Crystal Posey said...

ME! ME! ME! I engaged in a little word battle online that was not only juvenile, but personal (Stupid, stupid, stupid!). It's pushing two years now, and I'm still kicking myself in the backside for it. I like to blame it on my crazy, wild twenties. I mean, I did turn thirty in February. I can't do this, right?

Since then, I've decided that if I have to think twice about it ... I don't type it or upload it. Period. No exceptions. Everything I put out there I assume the world will see.

Dianne K. Salerni said...

I figure, if people want to wade through Tweets and FB posts that were ill-conceived and poorly typed, then they must have little entertainment in their lives.

Poor things. Let them get their jollies where they can.

Delia said...

Sadly, I don't drink all that much. Which means my drunk tweets all happen while I'm sober. Good times.

Sarah Tokeley said...

I'm with the others - thank goodness all this stuff wasn't about when I was younger. I would be in so much trouble! As it is, there are probably a few letters roaming around somewhere that I would hate to see the light of day!

Kelly Breakey said...

Honestly, I am just grateful that we didn't have cell phones with camera's when I was a teenager, or facebook, or twitter, or tumblr, or any of the other 5000 social media websites where your friends can and will amplify your jackassery for all the world to see. Thank you god for letting me grow up in the 80's.

Jen Stayrook said...

This is something I've thought about a lot recently. I'm the kind of person who shoots off at the mouth first without even considering my brain. I don't drunk tweet (that I remember), but I've probably said things sober that were worse. There are a ton of tweets/blogs/comments I should probably take back, but you know what? They were all me. Sure, I get fired up about politics. Maybe I make poop jokes. I'm eclectic. I try to always be me and be honest about it.

If I'm ever famous though, the media is going to have a field day. :-)