Remember the olden days when you could go about life incognito? When getting new bands on your braces did not news-rocket through your social sphere like Sputnik circling the globe? (Yeah. If you don't know what Sputnik is, you totally don't remember the days I'm talking about.) Social media has turned the entire world into a small town where everybody knows everybody's business and has an opinion on it, and I'm pretty sure I don't like that.
I grew up everywhere, my dad being in the Air Force and all. People knowing people for more than three years was a new concept to me. It blew my socks off when I moved out West, settled into High School, and listened to people say things like, "Do you remember in third grade when Carl stapled Janae's sleeve to the desk?" *group guffaw* "Oh, I remember Miss Doherty fainting during Kindergarten snacktime and that's how we found out she'd only be our teacher for half the year since she was pregnant." "I forgot about that!"
Everyone in that room had the same memories. And everyone in the school knew when anyone's dad lost his job, or any kid got any new thing.
Weird.
And now everyone we don't know knows all these kinds of details about us too.
Weirder.
There's a lot to say for fomenting brother-and-sisterhood in this world. Unless brother and sister are the kind who follow you around slamming the piano on your fingers or yelling to your friends at your first big party that you are finally wearing a BRA. (Yes. This happened. But it might have been me yelling it to my older sister's friends.Thank heavens I wasn't on Facebook back then. And hopefully she's forgotten about it.) (Come to think of it, I don't think I yelled. I think I actually put one of her new bras ON over the top of my bright red Christmas sweater and paraded it in front of her friends. Oh yes, that is much better than yelling. Clearly I am the one who should be reading this post.)
My point? I can't really remember now. I'm feeling guilty. I need to call my sister and apologize. Maybe that was the point.
And also, maybe we should stop waving our unmentionables (or those belonging to others) around in public. Take it from me. It'll haunt you forever. And who wants a stranger commenting on your My Little Pony drawers anyway?
Social Media definitely has its benefits. There's a lot of good stuff happening in them thar wifi-waves. I'd just love to see a return to some private life too. And respect for it. And no more little sisters being obnoxious.
I'll work on that last one.
Hahahahaha! I loved this! I feel the same way about social media. Every time I post something, I remind myself that it is the same as standing at a micropohone at a party and telling everyone all your secrets. And their friends, too. For business reasons, I post on fb a lot, and it tickles me that I'll get comments from people I've never heard of because someone I know and they know read my post and then commented, so the friend commented, too. But I set it up that way. I wouldn't put anything private out there because there is no privacy out there. Very little privacy anywhere really….