Privacy is dead.
Conversations used to be limited to the people involved. Heck, conversations used to be verbal and limited to those within earshot. Now they are global. We have never communicated so much but said so little.
Text messaging, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Chat Roulette and all the derivatives make your conversations and interactions a living thing. It’s a virus that can’t be killed. It’s not just the latest Bieber video or a lip-syncing, light-saber swinging fat-kid whose video ‘goes viral’. It’s your opinion, out of context, bad grammar and all that lives on.
There is no concept of delete anymore. It has become a synonym for ‘hide’. Just because you can’t see it, it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. It lives, it breathes and it spawns like a Gremlin in water. Years ago, even if you wrote it down, you could destroy it and it would end. Now, it’s an endless game of whack-a-mole and you’re not fast enough to keep up.
What you text Susie today, pisses off Sally tonight and before the bell rings to start the morning, half the school (if you’re lucky) knows what’s going down. People thrive on drama, everyone sees it, everyone wants a piece of it, and your innocent comment has multiplied into 1000s of conversations and comments, most of which you are not part of, you are simply the subject.
Trust is dead.
Despite the wealth of experiences teenagers have to draw upon to make their many prudent decisions ………………………………………………………………… (Sorry, I had to pause to wash the sarcasm off of me) they still haven’t learned what trust is. You know what; it’s unfair to single them out because in fact, I am convinced MOST people don’t know. Trust isn't always about integrity. Trust isn't just about whether you think the person would lie to you or that they would never hurt you. We hurt our loved ones all the time and never do we mean it. You can believe in someone and know they are honest, but are they careless? Are they a bit of a gossip?
Your trust is wasted on your friends when electronic communications are involved. They WILL fail you. It won’t be intentional and certainly not malicious, but their carelessness with their phone, their passwords or their own misplaced trust in someone else will betray you.
They share their phones and kill their privacy. They share their passwords and kill their privacy. They CC the wrong person and kill their privacy. But it doesn’t stop there. Just like a virus it spreads to kill the privacy of everyone they’ve ever had an electronic conversation with. They’ve exposed their friends and family. They've exposed you and they didn't mean to.
Even if you truly trust someone, keep it verbal. ‘He said/she said’ is a much better game to play then ‘I didn’t really mean the exact words I typed, I actually meant something else entirely when I said you have a fat ass and buck teeth. That totally came across wrong.’ It’s a social game for sure, but it’s like comparing hide-and-seek to Russian roulette. I’d take hide-and-seek or flashlight tag (TV-tag was my favorite) any day of the week over potentially blowing my head off.
“So what do you suggest, genius?”
Let’s all try this. If you wouldn't say it to someone’s face, don’t put it in a text… or email… or Facebook… or a tweet to them or anyone else. You can have your negative opinion of others. You can voice it to them if you respect them enough and you feel it could be a productive conversation. Or you can simply voice it to someone you trust. Go ahead and vent. Just don’t ‘send’ it.
