Digital Dirt

Britney Spears? Naughty. But at least Santa knows what to bring you for next Christmas.
Micheal Richards? Naughty. Soap is all you can expect in your stocking.

Yes, Santa is breathing a deep sigh of relief this year. His job just keeps on getting easier. Thanks to the youTubes and Myspaces of the world, keeping tabs on who is being naughty and nice couldn't be simpler. In a world where anyone can upload a video of you in a compromising situation with a couple of clicks it would seem we all have to think twice before crying or pouting. You never know who could be watching.

Yet, no one seems particularly worried. In fact those most likely to be caught drinking a little too much eggnog this holiday season, teenagers and twenty-somethings, are the most willing to post their latest embarrassing antics online. Take a look at the average picture on Facebook or video on youTube and you'll see what I mean. People drunk. People speeding. People drunkenly speeding etc. If you can imagine it, you can bet there is someone online doing it. The core of online social networking boils down to a popularity contest; people are always looking for ways to raise the stakes, doing whatever it takes to appear cool. Facebook certainly isn't overflowing with pictures of hard working college students studying exams. It's naughty and not nice that sells. What better way to impress your friends then openly displaying your drinking prowess and skill at dancing without your shirt? While in the short term this might mean a couple more online friends or video views, the long term prospects are hardly flattering. Digital dirt is gathering online and it leaves a stain that is tough get out.

While I'm reasonably willing to embrace asinine behaviour of my peers, not everyone is so liberal. When private media inevitably ends up in the hands of the public what are the social consequences? As the Facebook generation hits the job market what can we expect?

Perhaps we'll see a dramatic cancellation of online accounts as people go cold turkey in an effort to protect themselves. But by then I think the concept of online social networks will be so tightly intertwined with physical social networks that any such separation will be impossible. Maybe the next generation of online social networkers will take a lesson from their fore-bearers and clean up their online act. But this is just as unlikely, as any grandparent can attest to. Kids these days are just getting worse, whats going online is just is following suit. Hopefully we'll all just come to a mutual understanding that no one is an absolute angel. Everyone is guilty of doing something stupid at some time or another in their life, and an increasing few are unlucky enough to have it caught on camera. When everyone has dirt on everyone the acceptable amount increases.

One thing for sure, a hard recording of our past is much more widely available than that of our parents. Stay on the nice list and keep those naughty pictures offline.

-jb