Inspired by someone else's lj
So, I was reading my friends page this morning and someone linked to this and this. Interesting articles about how the internet is abolishing privacy and the younger generation doesn't mind. Makes me wanna sing along with REM: "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine." Too bad I don't have that on cd.
Now, I'm kinda between extremes here. I don't do myspace or facebook or any of that crap because I have no interest in hooking up with shallow teenagers, who tend to be the primary users of such things. And I can hook up with plenty of nonshallow teenagers just by doing nano. I don't get the whole phenomenon of taking pics at parties, because most of the stuff I've done at parties was so embarrassing that I'm glad all the other participants were too drunk to remember it. I don't get why someone would reveal their real name, phone number, or any of that other crap to someone they've never even talked to, since I at least wait until there's a certain level of trust there.
But on the other hand, I've gotten so used to the whole lj thing that I find it hard to write in my private paper journal, because no one's gonna be reading it. It feels like talking to myself. Normally I just write about stuff that happened recently, since I *know* I'll forget it sooner or later, but sometimes I force myself to write about my emotional reactions to stuff that'd get me bitched at if I wrote them online.
I'm just not a very private person, in general. If I want to keep something secret, it has to be really super embarrassing (more embarrassing than what's on my exes page, which is a bit hard to imagine :P), or it has to be something that'd hurt one of my friends needlessly, or else isn't my secret to tell to begin with. I've grown up in a family that has nothing against talking about bowel movements on an almost daily basis, and we tell a LOT of embarrassing family stories that everyone's already heard 500 times. So whenever someone's sick, I go "oh do you have diarrhea? because I've got a really good home remedy for it" and they mostly go "eww, let's change the subject".
So I guess I'd be pretty unprivate even if lj didn't exist. But I think it carries over onto here in the sense that here I can say whatever I damn well please (as long as it's not illegal) and if someone bitches, it's their problem because they didn't have to read it. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I expect them to at least be civil when they don't, and to admit the possibility that their opinion isn't the only valid one in the entire universe. Of course, the good thing about the internet is that if they don't abide by those courtesies, I can just delete their comments. Although it'd probably be better to leave them there for all posterity to see what an asshole they are. ;)
Anyway, I guess it's just comforting to think that even if I'm not talking to anyone in particular, I can still be social in some way. Sometimes it bothers me that I rarely get comments (though more now than I used to), but I've been on the other end enough to know what it's like to see some post that you think you ought to respond to, but sit there staring at the screen unsure of what to say, and eventually give up and read someone else's instead.
Now, I'm kinda between extremes here. I don't do myspace or facebook or any of that crap because I have no interest in hooking up with shallow teenagers, who tend to be the primary users of such things. And I can hook up with plenty of nonshallow teenagers just by doing nano. I don't get the whole phenomenon of taking pics at parties, because most of the stuff I've done at parties was so embarrassing that I'm glad all the other participants were too drunk to remember it. I don't get why someone would reveal their real name, phone number, or any of that other crap to someone they've never even talked to, since I at least wait until there's a certain level of trust there.
But on the other hand, I've gotten so used to the whole lj thing that I find it hard to write in my private paper journal, because no one's gonna be reading it. It feels like talking to myself. Normally I just write about stuff that happened recently, since I *know* I'll forget it sooner or later, but sometimes I force myself to write about my emotional reactions to stuff that'd get me bitched at if I wrote them online.
I'm just not a very private person, in general. If I want to keep something secret, it has to be really super embarrassing (more embarrassing than what's on my exes page, which is a bit hard to imagine :P), or it has to be something that'd hurt one of my friends needlessly, or else isn't my secret to tell to begin with. I've grown up in a family that has nothing against talking about bowel movements on an almost daily basis, and we tell a LOT of embarrassing family stories that everyone's already heard 500 times. So whenever someone's sick, I go "oh do you have diarrhea? because I've got a really good home remedy for it" and they mostly go "eww, let's change the subject".
So I guess I'd be pretty unprivate even if lj didn't exist. But I think it carries over onto here in the sense that here I can say whatever I damn well please (as long as it's not illegal) and if someone bitches, it's their problem because they didn't have to read it. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I expect them to at least be civil when they don't, and to admit the possibility that their opinion isn't the only valid one in the entire universe. Of course, the good thing about the internet is that if they don't abide by those courtesies, I can just delete their comments. Although it'd probably be better to leave them there for all posterity to see what an asshole they are. ;)
Anyway, I guess it's just comforting to think that even if I'm not talking to anyone in particular, I can still be social in some way. Sometimes it bothers me that I rarely get comments (though more now than I used to), but I've been on the other end enough to know what it's like to see some post that you think you ought to respond to, but sit there staring at the screen unsure of what to say, and eventually give up and read someone else's instead.