I often look at my name, in the top right corner of my Macbook, and wonder, how much information someone out there has about me. Someone I’ve never met or seen or heard of has information about me, my habits, preferences, school and work.
To what extent is that information controlled and monitored? To what extent may it one day affect my future?
My generation uses the internet for the bulk of our communication, work, and entertainment. We get online at the start of the day and shut down our computers just before bed. Our internet providers know every single website we visit and most of those websites collect information on the links we click. We willingly share our digital profiles through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and others.
A computer screen creates a false sense of security which allows users to feel completely anonymous, when, in fact, it’s not that difficult to connect the dots to form a dossier of the individual. That’s how drugstore websites can predict with freakish accuracy how far along a woman is with her pregnancy by her product-browsing history. While that may not seem scary, consider those whose lives are changed forever by videos which go viral. Several years ago a woman whose poor parking job, and subsequent attitude towards the man filming her, changed her life forever. The video went viral and, coupled with some personal information, triggered everything from death threats to a campaign to boycott the clothing store she owned. To this day, the woman receives a fresh wave of hate every time the video resurfaces, even though the incident occurred years ago.
The fact is all of us have similar bad-parking-and-attitude moments in our lives. We normally forget these moments by the time we leave the parking lot, but if that moment is captured and linked to you, it can potentially become the moment that defines you.
People make mistakes. They change their viewpoints and opinions and they grow as individuals. Previously, mistakes committed in the past would stay in the past. But nowadays any incident can be filmed or blogged and becomes searchable forever. Should the fact that you acted like a drunken idiot at a party in college effect your ability to get a task done at your future job?
In ten years, if a potential employer stumbles upon that video, will they immediately discard your application? Or, by then, will society have learned to accept human flaws and move on from our past? Will things considered taboo now become the norm in human interaction?
With the free flow of information today, it’s practically impossible to separate your work life from your personal life or your online identity from your real life identity. I think this is good. I believe that we are transforming into a more open society, where we can openly talk about our flaws and questionable moments from our youth, with acceptance and understanding rather than exclusion and judgment.
Olga Motsyk
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