It’s creepy the things that come up when you type your own name into Google.
I had stories that I’d written four years ago on a youth website.
Pictures of me at a government function, on my uni website, a link to my other blog on Black Girl with Long Hair, various videos of me on Youtube, my LinkedIn account and even some of my family genealogy.
Then there were dead links, to things I’d deleted like my Twitter account.
The internet is a strange thing, I guess I’m thinking about this more because one of my coworkers has been telling me about her online dating adventures, and just today I overheard a guy telling his friends about the slightly explicit messages a girl he had ‘met’ on RSVP was sending him. It’s hard not to listen when someone starts giving details like that on the train, and after giving some pretty intimate details about this girl who referred to herself as ‘Toots’ he told his friends that they hadn’t actually met in person but had started texting each other after meeting through RSVP. I found this a little odd and disturbing.
So one of the women at work has been emailing quite a few men and has recently become a little concerned with her privacy. She said that she didn’t give them her phone number but her personal email address, which is made up of her first and last name. She said she didn’t think they would be able to do anything with that, but being the technology hardwired person of my generation I begged to differ, whipped out my phone and typed her name into google. And what came up? Information on her workplace, her direct work telephone number, her twitter profile and links to her facebook page.
Our lives are so open now, we leave so much opportunity for other people to become a part of our lives and for us to not even be aware..sometimes when I write on here it’s the first thing I think of, other times when I’m just too caught up in a particular emotion it’s a thought that doesn’t occur till much later.
These days, it seems like someone can just keep living as long as the internet keeps them alive, people like Zyzz or Britt Lapthorne who have had groups set up by complete strangers to celebrate their lives.
I can’t help but think what kind of digital footprint I’ll leave behind, if in thirty, forty or fifty years you’ll be able to type in my name and receive a random selection of memories. Who knows? I’ll get back to you in a few.
x
