Privacy in the Modern Age

I read an article today that really got me thinking. In the past, the girls and I have had discussions at the dorms about the nature of rumors, privacy, and libel. I have been of the belief for quite some time now that privacy, in the modern age, is dead. Let me tell you why.

First of all, we live in an era where everything is available online. You can do a quick Google search and find out just about anything that you want about a person without having to work too hard for it. I know that this is true because I google people all the time. You can put a lot of pieces together with a well-thought foray into the joys of Internet search engines. In the past, I've started with a name and found websites, interviews, personal information, and even images of a person's home residence. It's all out there, one just has to know how to find it.

Secondly, we're coming to find that we have a generation of people who are putting their every thought out there on the web without even thinking about it. Facebook and Twitter have only added to that trend. It's possible to whip out a mobile phone and toss out 140 characters of whatever you want. It's a cultural ideal that encourages people to update, to share, to network, but it doesn't encourage them to think. It's too easy to drunk-text a Twitter update without considering the ramifications of what you're doing. It's too easy to put out a status update that outs someone as a bad friend without considering the fact that it also makes you a bad friend for putting it all over Facebook. Even the author of the aforementioned article notes that she didn't think, at the age that she started her sex blog, that people would think it was a big deal or that they'd go out of their way to hurt her for it. She didn't consider the ramifications of her writing.

Thirdly, if you're not putting it out there, someone else will or has. If you're not telling Facebook that you got hammered with your besties last night, you'd better monitor what your besties are saying. Odds are fair that one of them wrote to someone or even made a status about how you embarrassed yourself by puking in the pool. It goes beyond just personal circumstances, though. Information is disseminated pretty freely these days. Winning a contest or tournament means that your name will be out there for the world to see. More to the point, your address is on google right now, and you probably didn't put it there yourself.  You don't always have control over what is written about you.

People are ugly. We hurt each other. This is what we do. There is always going to be some hater who looks at what you've written and wants to find a way to use it to destroy you. There will always be a person that wants you to feel terrible, even if there is no logic to those feelings. Perfect strangers will find a way to hate you for no reason at all. Trolls on the Internet will use whatever they can to get to the people that they dislike. This comes as no surprise at all.

Privacy is dead because we have slain it ourselves. The information age comes at a price. Having widely disseminated information out there means that some of that information might be about you. Is that a price that you're willing to pay for the knowledge that Angelina Jolie prefers her underwear white and Hunter S. Thompson was really fond of grilled cheese? (Those are totally made up facts. I have no idea about Angelina's underwear or Hunter's food-loving ways. Frankly, those subjects are too boring for me to google.) The instant-update attitude that Facebook and Twitter add to our lifestyles only exacerbate the death of privacy, and those are based in choice. No one makes you update Facebook or Twitter with personal information that may be damning. In some ways, we play a major role in our own lack of privacy, so it makes no sense to blame others for it.

Here's my feeling about privacy: If you don't want someone to know that you did something, then don't do it. It's simple. People can't  find out about what didn't happen. Not committing an act means that you don't have to find ways to lie about it. It also saves you the embarrassment of a friend calling you out on actions that you didn't want them to find out about. If you'll feel bad for it later, if you might have to apologize for it (and apologies aren't your thing), then just don't do it. Privacy isn't an issue if you're not doing things that you feel like you might need to hide.This world is too populated and small for people to think that they would be able to have a space or forum totally free from other people and judgment.

As far as I'm concerned, there isn't a reasonable expectation of privacy any more. I live my life like people are watching what I'm doing because, let's be honest, they might be.

Killing Time

This morning at 9:30 AM, I was supposed to have an advising appointment to schedule my new classes. In my general, fail-at-life fashion, I slept right through that appointment. It has been rescheduled for 12:30 PM today. So, in an effort to not sleep through it for a second time, I opted to get some creative thoughts going and toss a blog out there. No depth is guaranteed.

General updates seem to be needed, so let's go for that. My roommate, Kaitlin, is still funny and amazing. My girls are still wonderful. My high school crush is so last month--I mean, seriously, he's really stupid. We seem to have netted ourselves some drama with on of the basketball players, who swears that his sister will beat the shit out of my roommate. All of this drama stems from me asking him once, politely, to please not start a fight with our mutual friend in my apartment. Apparently, this was an unacceptable request. Needless to say, my roommate will not be touched by his sister. Rather, she will feel the wrath of a whole troupe of girls if she even tries to come near Kaitlin. We protect our own here.

Classes are progressing well enough. I had a presentation in pathophysiology which went swimmingly. I have a presentation to give in nutrition lab next week. Hopefully, after today's meeting, I'll be able to say that I'm officially an English major and will have all my classes scheduled. My criteria? Nothing in the morning. That's it. Clearly, I can't handle myself before noon.

As a random side note (because I'm both tired and scatter-brained right now), I want this so badly. It's Twitter jewelry. I'm sensing that as soon as I get that insurance settlement from my massive car accident, I'll be splurging the $65 dollars to get a silver @jessplatz necklace. Why? Because I love me some Twitter gear (and I secretly want perfect strangers to follow my feed because I fantasize that I am interesting)! Also, what kind of life would I be leading in the technology age if I didn't have something that showed off my Internet prowess? Not that I have all that much Twitter cred, what with my measly 41 followers, but still! It's the thought that counts, right?

I'm off to go and pretend my life has interesting points!

Internet Dreamin' (To The Tune of California Dreamin')

In the interest of writing a real blog (which I seem to have yet to do since the letter-writing excursion), I opted to take a moment here to write about a dream that I just had. To be clear, a friend of mine invited me out for the first time since JJ and I separated tonight. Eager to get out of the house and have some fucking fun, I agreed. I'm sure I don't need to say it, but in the interest of clarity, here's the important fact: there was a lot of alcohol consumed tonight. In fact, I haven't gotten that drunk in quite some time. It's nice, but it's not nice at the same time.

When I got home, I got online to update Twitter and blog. JJ was online. Of course, talking turned into fighting. I'm not a very good fighter when I'm drunk. I'm also sad to report that it really kills any kind of pleasant buzz that you have going to be fighting while you're drunk. The downside is that then the alcohol turns on you, and you just feel pathetic, worthless, used up, and ruinous...or maybe that's just me?

So, resigned to my fate of being the worst wife and human being on the face of planet Earth, I lay me down to sleep. I awakened myself only a few minutes ago with pathetic dreams, and I do mean pathetic. For example, the first thing that I dreamt about was responding to other people's tweets on Twitter. Let me repeat that: I dreamt about fucking Twitter, for Christ's sakes. My next dream included me talking about my blog. When someone asked what it was about, I responded by saying, "It's a about a woman who wishes she could be someone else and all the lives that she destroys." Apparently, this is how I'm describing myself these days. Fantastic.

There's really something just the littlest bit pathological about describing yourself that way in a dream. That's deep-seated. I'm really uncomfortable with that. When I'm describing myself as a life-ruiner even in my dreams, we have problems. Big ones. Clearly, I can't keep doing this. I know why I keep feeling this way, and I can't keep it up. Something has to change. I really need to isolate for a little while.

For now, I'm going back to sleep. I'll try not to dream myself into any more self-esteem problems.

Internet Recognition

I need to share my triumph with the Internet. Many of you are aware of my new love for the band Marianas Trench. AW got me interested in them when we were talking about music one day, and I have been very into them ever since. I absolutely love their music. I'm really saddened by the fact that their CDs haven't been released in the U.S. yet, but there's a release date set, so I can pre-order them when I get some cash. (My little brother blames this recent love of Marianas Trench on my being a "Canadaphile." I'm pretty sure he made that word up.)

Anyways, I've been a Twitter twat for a little while now. I've noticed that the most frustrating thing about Twitter is that, while you can tweet your little fingers off at celebrities, band members, and persons of note all you'd like, they very seldom reply to your tweets. This doesn't deter me, but it's kind of emblematic of how the world works. There's even a very funny YouTube video about this phenomenon.

Well, the lead singer of Marianas Trench, Josh Ramsay, is on Twitter. In fact, the band members often make a point of keeping up with fans on Twitter, which is really great. It's important to connect with your fan base. And tonight, Josh Ramsay connected with me.

Suck it, Internet!

What does this mean? This means that Josh Ramsay is aware that I have a presence on this Earth. That may seem really stupid, but it pleases me to no end. Also, this is the first time that a celebrity has actually replied to one of my tweets. I'm pretty stoked about that false sense of importance. It doesn't hurt that he Internet-laughed at my comment, either. The Internet is pretty fuckin' cool, when you think about it.

Now if I could just get them to tour in Toledo, Ohio, we'd be all set! Fingers crossed, people!