There has been some buzz regarding people’s lack of ‘privacy’ on the internet, mostly concerning social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace. The Strib had an article today concerning it, and I am informed this is the third article of it’s kind featured in the paper this month alone.
So, why share personal information via the internet? Is it narcissim or something else? I’m going to roll with ‘something else’. I can only answer personally, but feel this may apply to others.
I am not a ‘private’ person in most aspects of my life, you could call me an open book. That doesn’t mean that I venture into TMI-Land, and it also doesn’t mean that I share details concerning my life that may embarass others. What it DOES mean is that there isn’t a whole lot about myself that I find that I need to keep private, or secret. I guess in many ways, it’s the opposite of narcissism, in that I don’t consider my life grand or great and there’s not much I feel couldn’t be shared with just about everyone, if they so desired the information.
I do sometimes talk about sensitive topics. I talk about my family history of depression and suicide, and my own history of the same. The only reason I ever share this kind of private information is that at least a few times I have been told that I have helped someone when they were facing a pretty black moment. I figure that if I kept even one person from thinking about suicide, then I have a good reason for sharing my past.
I also assumme that if you come to my blog, which isn’t necessarily EASY to find, that you must have some kind of interest in either myself or what I have to write about. On of my xtian posters (who, by the way, was cheating on me with other atheist blogs and also now has just vanished, up and left me) said that if I post something on the internet then I must want comments. I don’t feel this is necessarily so. Although I enjoy when people read my work and they get a feeling, good or bad, from it, I would continue blogging whether I received 0 hits per day or 200 (or more, but let’s stay near the average for now). Victor (Universal Heretic for those who only know him on the interweb) and I do have a shared blog, that shall remain nameless, that gets ZERO traffic and we are totally cool with it. We enjoy it, but doubt anyone else in the world ever would.
So, in conclusion to my long winded explanation of Internet tidbits, narcissism or something else, just remember to stop and think the next time someone shares something via the web. Was it really a big deal that you found out about it? Does it affect your life or theirs in any kind of meaningful way? And just because I care, I do not have ANY pictures on MySpace of myself getting drunk or standing semi-clothed in front of a mirror. Although I do have a great bikini pic. 
“Nostradamus predicts the collapse of the capitalist system and the world-wide socialist revolution”
I read your last post, went to the bloglist and I have to tell you that propeller-heads like the one who took the trouble to copy/paste that on the bloglist are scarey mo-fos.
The kind that know what color your eyes are through the ‘net and can melt your computer playing ‘GOD’S righteous wrath’!
Some jerk actually managed to stop my PC cold. It won’t even show the BIOS.
That there is pure evil, if you ask me.
I guess it’s a perverse streak, but I frequent blogs and message forums all over the place and a large part of the fun is disguising my identity and measuring just how much I can reveal without giving the whole thing away.
And yet, when the time felt right (last summer), I jumped onto Facebook and used my real name. Now and then I’ll find somebody on one of my other “anonymous” sites and friend them, disclosing the name they know me by.
But still — I will NOT friend anyone from my job or my husband’s family, because on Facebook I show a side of myself that they might not feel comfortable with. Both those groups are quite Christian. I’m not, but I live in the Bobble belt and can’t afford to alienate that many people.
I think, however, that one day I’m going to slip. And then I’ll have to seriously weight whether or not to continue on Facebook. Leaving would be a shame, because my son is on there and it’s helpful for keeping in touch.
Ah, the dilemmas of the 21st century!!
Hey Pboy, I totally don’t get what you’re talking about… if you want to explain, crack at it!
Volly: I get where you’re coming from. I can’t officially ‘come out’ at work because I work with persons with disabilities and mental illness. I know that some of them would use my atheism against me and it could make my job difficult. Also, my Facebook page is for people I know from Minnesota Atheists only, so that helps a bit. My MySpace page does identify me as an atheist, though, and the reaction has been mostly positive.
There will always be exhibitionists. It’s just easier now.
Personally, I just blog for the sake of thinking out loud in print, and not necessarily for the comments (the comment option just comes as an added benefit, but usual just lets me have brief, tangential conversations on something slightly related to the original topic….like my comment right now!). As for exposing information about oneself….I’m not exactly the best person to talk about that, since I do not have any accounts on social networking sites (save Atheist Nexus…an account I do not use). And, all of the information I expose about myself through blogging is either irrelevant or outright false. As it should be, in my opinion.
pboy- are u talking about the atheist blog roll??
Right, it’s not like I’m giving out my home address and cell, and showing people my little moles way down yonder…
lol.
I think pboy was talking about the atheist blogroll, but I mean, talk about a round about way of bringing it up!
Yea, that guy was on the atheist blogroll. hehe.
Didn’t mean to confuse anyone.