Just a thought

I think people want to be able to know what everyone is thinking.

Technology has made that possible. With blogs, twitter, facebook etc. nothing is private anymore. Everyone has the ability to speak their mind and anyone has the ability to search and read it.

I don't know if this is a good thing or not. People who post things on the internet need to be careful of what they post and people who read things on the internet need to take what's posted with a grain of salt, and also be prepared to see things that you didn't want to see or want to know.

The Eagles shouldn't have fired their employee for writing something about wanting to keep Brian Dawkins. John Calipari's daughter shouldn't have had her facebook page comments about Pat Forde made into a news story. Those things were meant to be private. Those are things that those two people 20 years ago would have said to their neighbors and friends when they saw them. Now they post it on the internet for their friends to see. With or without facebook, that Eagles employee still would have said that about Brian Dawkins. With Facebook the Eagles can search and read it.

What once used to be private, our thoughts, are no longer really private. Everyone thinks that they are important and everyone loves to talk about themselves. Now with the internet and social networking people are speaking their minds. Unfortunately it comes with consequences. People don't get to put things in context on the internet or in facebook posts. People know too much and have access to too much information about people's private lives.

People need to be smart when it comes to what they write, because people will say things in the heat of the moment and other's will interpret it the wrong way. I also think that there is so responsibility on the searcher's part to understand that if they are searching something that is private, or not intended for their eyes than they will find things that they don't want to know or read. Searchers need to have thick skin and take whatever criticisms are said about them as constructive criticism and not as disrespect.

What used to be saved for home and for friends while you are shooting the breeze is now posted on the internet and awaiting comments. People used to sift through photographs in private with friends. Now that they are digital they post them on the internet. People search them and form impressions of people that they don't know based on them. People obsess over who was in that picture and why were they at that party etc. etc. I think it's best if we get to know people in person before judging them for something that they see or read online. A photograph can be misleading and words can be misinterpreted, especially when read without tone and facial expressions.

Maybe people can argue that this technology is a good thing, maybe we are weeding out a lot of bad people with the ability of googling. It's seems like a bad thing because we are finding out a lot of things that no one had access to not that long ago. Every technology seems to come with it's pluses and minuses. Social Networking's biggest problem could be that now people do know what used to be private information.

Trust me I love social networking, I love being able to keep in touch with people that are far away, I love being able to share my thoughts on twitter and right here on this blog and I love talking sports. However, the people who search things on the internet really need to have tough skin, take things with a grain of salt and respect that what they find might not be meant for their viewing. What you can find easily on the internet now used to only be able to be obtained through stalking, police warrants and sifting through people's homes. Remember that.

FYI...I wouldn't post something if I thought it was questionable. I'm usually pretty good at that. I hope nothing has or does fall through the cracks. I fully understand that what I write could be searched by anyone. I hope I haven't written anything that would get me in trouble. (I think Mel Thomas even sent her book to Geno for him to look over) I continually update every post, to word things differently, proofread it (so I don't look stupid) and take out things that are questionable or shouldn't be posted. I try my best and hopefully that's good enough.

I also don't tend to post anything negative here. I think the only time I remember that is when I spoke about Anderson Varejao and well quite frankly one certain school in the Big East conference who doesn't have a football team. I try to talk about good, interesting or funny stories. Although I completely understand if I'm the only person who finds them funny.