Will we care in 10 years what people post online?
When Young Teachers Go Wild on the Web
The Washington Post Monday, April 28, 2008; Page A01
When I came across that article, it was #6 on the digg front page. The gist of the article is that some reporter wrote a story about how people have facebooked/googled/myspaced young teachers in the DC metro area and discovered that some of those teachers had "risqué" or "racy" pictures/links/statements on their online websites. The offensive content generally involved alcohol or revealing attire. Then we see the usual "be careful what you post on the internet, employers are watching!" admonition that we've heard before. There isn't really any news here.
But it got me thinking...
As our generation and those behind us grow older and gradually internet savvy permeates society, will we continue to care so much about people's internet profiles? I mean, I can understand how when stuff like facebook and myspace first hit the scene, adults, who grew up in a time when knowledge their rowdy and lewd acts were confined to themselves and maybe some close friends or some pictures from Woodstock, were shocked at what they could find on people. Employers began scouring the net for incriminating photos of their prospective employees having fun at college parties. These postings were deemed "unprofessional" and "inappropriate." Debates raged in print and online as to whether a person's "personal" life was relevant to their "professional" life. The two sides essentially boil down to:
Posting crude things online shows a marked lack of judgment and propriety that is an indicator that a person might lack the character to be a good representative of a company.
vs
(A) Nothing says a person can't work hard and play hard. Or (B) Who cares if people did crazy things in college? They could easy have grown out of them.
Now... fast forward 10 years. The oldest people who were in college for the founding of Facebook are now in their mid 30s and many have or will soon be involved in hiring young 20-somethings into their companies. They are intimately familiar with the online world and many (most?) have probably posted profiles on any number of websites current and as yet not invented. Will they care that class of 2018 grads Katherine Cheng and Jose Smith have some pics online of them getting wasted at a Halloween party? I really don't think so.
Digger "mcnasby" sums up this position nicely:
The interesting thing about this whole scenario is that in the past, teachers, and "adults" alike are painted as these staunch, unyielding and overtly serious creatures. Seemingly on a pedestal - a step above "immature" teenagers. But the internet is changing that perception.
In a way, it shows how lazy one's personality is if he/she doesn't protect his/her own privacy online. But in another way -- these social networks are revealing how human these people really are. Everyone has a sense of humor, everyone wants to have fun and enjoy themselves. These social networks are just unveiling the true personalities of adults. Surprise, surprise - they like to have fun and joke around. Personally, if I was in high school and found my teacher's Facebook profile and saw that maybe he was a bit of a goof outside of the classroom, and hey, maybe even liked some of the same music -- I'd probably appreciate and respect him that much more. Sometimes I think our society is too uptight and serious for its own good.
But what do you think? Discuss!
The Washington Post Monday, April 28, 2008; Page A01
When I came across that article, it was #6 on the digg front page. The gist of the article is that some reporter wrote a story about how people have facebooked/googled/myspaced young teachers in the DC metro area and discovered that some of those teachers had "risqué" or "racy" pictures/links/statements on their online websites. The offensive content generally involved alcohol or revealing attire. Then we see the usual "be careful what you post on the internet, employers are watching!" admonition that we've heard before. There isn't really any news here.
But it got me thinking...
As our generation and those behind us grow older and gradually internet savvy permeates society, will we continue to care so much about people's internet profiles? I mean, I can understand how when stuff like facebook and myspace first hit the scene, adults, who grew up in a time when knowledge their rowdy and lewd acts were confined to themselves and maybe some close friends or some pictures from Woodstock, were shocked at what they could find on people. Employers began scouring the net for incriminating photos of their prospective employees having fun at college parties. These postings were deemed "unprofessional" and "inappropriate." Debates raged in print and online as to whether a person's "personal" life was relevant to their "professional" life. The two sides essentially boil down to:
Posting crude things online shows a marked lack of judgment and propriety that is an indicator that a person might lack the character to be a good representative of a company.
vs
(A) Nothing says a person can't work hard and play hard. Or (B) Who cares if people did crazy things in college? They could easy have grown out of them.
Now... fast forward 10 years. The oldest people who were in college for the founding of Facebook are now in their mid 30s and many have or will soon be involved in hiring young 20-somethings into their companies. They are intimately familiar with the online world and many (most?) have probably posted profiles on any number of websites current and as yet not invented. Will they care that class of 2018 grads Katherine Cheng and Jose Smith have some pics online of them getting wasted at a Halloween party? I really don't think so.
Digger "mcnasby" sums up this position nicely:
The interesting thing about this whole scenario is that in the past, teachers, and "adults" alike are painted as these staunch, unyielding and overtly serious creatures. Seemingly on a pedestal - a step above "immature" teenagers. But the internet is changing that perception.
In a way, it shows how lazy one's personality is if he/she doesn't protect his/her own privacy online. But in another way -- these social networks are revealing how human these people really are. Everyone has a sense of humor, everyone wants to have fun and enjoy themselves. These social networks are just unveiling the true personalities of adults. Surprise, surprise - they like to have fun and joke around. Personally, if I was in high school and found my teacher's Facebook profile and saw that maybe he was a bit of a goof outside of the classroom, and hey, maybe even liked some of the same music -- I'd probably appreciate and respect him that much more. Sometimes I think our society is too uptight and serious for its own good.
But what do you think? Discuss!