Ah, Generation Internet. Weaned on self-esteem, kids my age (24) are eager to ex-press themselves. From grade school on, a steady stream of Web sites have catered to our self-obsession: first message boards, AIM and LiveJournal, then blogs, MySpace and You-Tube (plus Google to catalog it all). Early on, this was geek stuff. But in 2006, MySpace’s unique visitors tripled to 80 million, and it became the most viewed site in the United States. Discretion ? LOL. We’re sharing our entire lives–buddy lists, party photos, vital stats–online.
The consequences are increasingly clear. After Facebook added a NewsFeed this fall–bulletins posted whenever a profile is tweaked–members reacted as if it were an invasion of privacy. Try “wake-up call.” Already, a handful of companies had fired employees for blogging. In March, police in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., arrested 10 alleged graffiti artists after they put photos of their work on MySpace (which helps cops with hundreds of cases a month). Banks, law firms–even colleges–now Google and Facebook applicants. The grown-ups are watching. One day, of course, we’ll be the grown-ups–and living online will be normal. Until then, it may be best to keep your “Valentine’s Day” under wraps. For all our sakes.
