Say, What Chu Looking At?

What follows is a commentary.  I am not targeting anyone specific.  I am targeting a general topic.  If you think I’m talking about you specifically, you are wrong.

Dear internet and internet friends:

I love hearing from you all.  I really do. 

However I have a small concern.   More and more I see you (and by you I mean the generic internet posting public)  posting things on the internet and assuming that there is some semblance of privacy or respect of boundaries.   There seems to be an assumption that your presence on the internet is protected by this magical barrier that exists between you and the keyboard.

There isn’t. 

Places like Facebook, Twitter, Livejournal, WordPress, 4chan, WhatIDidLastSummer,  Donkeypunchdiaries, WHATEVER the flavor… are inherently PUBLIC.   There is no hiding, there is no suppression.  Anything you post is like walking into a public room and saying, “HI I AM HERE THIS IS WHAT I AM THINKING!!!” (I really would add blinking to this but you get the point.)

There should not be any expected privacy.  If you are going to rant, rave, cry, shout, cheer or pimp on a social networking site, you have to expect to be watched, commented upon, made fun of, stalked, or obsessed over. 

If you are one of the people who understand this, great.  I’m happy.  Carry on and post away.   Perhaps you enjoy posting your thoughts for all to see.   Maybe you simply don’t care.  Some of you might be writers who WANTS people to see your creations.  Might there be a mental exhibitionism that drives us?  Whatever the case may be, have at it.  Let the trolls come to the door, we’ve got plenty of ammo to smack them around.

But if you’re one of the folks who post and then get angry when your comments are taken out of context, too bad.  If you’re scared because people are watching you, stop showing yourself.  Being scared of that is like being scared after posing nude in front of your apartment window.  If you don’t want to be observed, close the damned shades.   If you don’t want advice or thoughts on something you’ve written, turn off comments or better yet, try ignoring them.  

In short – no amount of crying will keep people from staring at you when you are in public.  Just because you post from your office or your home or from the hiding spot you have in your closet typing on your phone, you are seen and observed and we know who you are.  Get over it. 

And no.  Anon won’t save you.