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The Internet is FOREVER
Mar. 14th, 2019 11:52 amWhen I was a child I was told that if I stepped a toe out of line it would be on my permanent record that would follow me through life and determine my future.
As we got older, we were told that our permanent record would determine which college we would get into and what kind of jobs would be open to us because of the college we went to.
By the time we were in college, we were informed that our college record would be the item that would determine what graduate school we might get into. The idea of a permanent record was tossed out the window and something we did in 3rd grade or even some stupidity from the 11th grade no longer haunted us.
This was in the before times when the World Wide Web was in its infancy.
Now we have a permanent record called the Internet that never forgets.
I have lost count the number of times I have heard people my age say,” I am so glad that the Internet didn’t exist when I was a kid.”
We have discovered that the stupid things we say on the Internet years ago can come back and haunt us. We can lose jobs because of something we said when we were drunk and angry many years ago. We can lose the respect of our peer group for idiocy we posted for all to see. Even things said in ‘private’ spaces on the Internet have a way of getting out into the public spaces.
My simple rule of thumb has been if I wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, then I don’t say it. If I am going to be embarrassed down the road if someone finds things I have written, it does not go on the Internet. Photos and Videos are the same thing.
My other rule is that if my parents found whatever, would I feel bad that they knew that I had done that? If the answer is yes, then it stays off the Internet. I treasure my parents respect and when they are disappointed in me I feel awful that I lost their trust and respect.
There are companies that you can hire to ‘clean up’ your Internet record but there is no guarantee that something won’t come back to haunt you.
I have seen countless times that people have said or done something stupid on the Internet and pretty quickly deleted it only to find that it is still out there because someone did a screen capture or re-tweeted it or shared it on a social media platform in the 5 seconds it was on the Internet.
More so if you have any notoriety good or bad of any sort. How many athletes have been pilloried for something they said on social media? How many actors for things that they said much earlier in their careers? No one is really ‘safe’ on the Internet.
A little paranoia is not a bad idea before you punch that share button because once you do, it’s out here forever.
I am grateful that there was no Internet when I was a teenager and rather impulsive.
As we got older, we were told that our permanent record would determine which college we would get into and what kind of jobs would be open to us because of the college we went to.
By the time we were in college, we were informed that our college record would be the item that would determine what graduate school we might get into. The idea of a permanent record was tossed out the window and something we did in 3rd grade or even some stupidity from the 11th grade no longer haunted us.
This was in the before times when the World Wide Web was in its infancy.
Now we have a permanent record called the Internet that never forgets.
I have lost count the number of times I have heard people my age say,” I am so glad that the Internet didn’t exist when I was a kid.”
We have discovered that the stupid things we say on the Internet years ago can come back and haunt us. We can lose jobs because of something we said when we were drunk and angry many years ago. We can lose the respect of our peer group for idiocy we posted for all to see. Even things said in ‘private’ spaces on the Internet have a way of getting out into the public spaces.
My simple rule of thumb has been if I wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, then I don’t say it. If I am going to be embarrassed down the road if someone finds things I have written, it does not go on the Internet. Photos and Videos are the same thing.
My other rule is that if my parents found whatever, would I feel bad that they knew that I had done that? If the answer is yes, then it stays off the Internet. I treasure my parents respect and when they are disappointed in me I feel awful that I lost their trust and respect.
There are companies that you can hire to ‘clean up’ your Internet record but there is no guarantee that something won’t come back to haunt you.
I have seen countless times that people have said or done something stupid on the Internet and pretty quickly deleted it only to find that it is still out there because someone did a screen capture or re-tweeted it or shared it on a social media platform in the 5 seconds it was on the Internet.
More so if you have any notoriety good or bad of any sort. How many athletes have been pilloried for something they said on social media? How many actors for things that they said much earlier in their careers? No one is really ‘safe’ on the Internet.
A little paranoia is not a bad idea before you punch that share button because once you do, it’s out here forever.
I am grateful that there was no Internet when I was a teenager and rather impulsive.
