Social Media (SM) sites have taken the meaning of “friend” to a different level. “Friending” someone on one of these sites means they have the opportunity to know more about your daily life than people you have been close to for years.
Sometimes I wish there was a different term used for these online connections. I worry that some people—the gullible and the young—might confuse their online contacts with real-life friends.
This is a quandary because most of us do converse with our “real” friends online and have also met people on the sites who became real-life friends…normally because of shared interests. However, there comes a point where there has to be some filtering of what we say and whom we say it to.
I’m sure there are sociologists studying online “friending” (at least I hope so). I remember my parents cautioning long ago: “You may not want to be friends with everyone who wants to be your friend.” The same applies on the Internet and it works both ways…not everyone wants to be friends with us!
I think we have reached a point with today’s technology where we have to assume that any post, blog, email, phone conversation, location, or picture—is available to the public. A public that consists of friends, foes, acquaintances, and strangers.
There is no hiding. Even if you are at a far away locale, sitting on a beach alone, someone can take your picture and post it for the world to see. And, what about those hundreds of people you “friend” on various sites that read your posts and know everything about you—from where you went to elementary school to your brand of toothpaste?
Celebrities aren’t the only ones who lose privacy these days: Everybody is a star!
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