"There are things I'd rather just not know about you," Paul says to open her article; she complains how people in this age share too much information that does not need to be shared. She compares the shared information to a "lodged piece of corn," never to be unseen or forgotten.
With this in mind, as future educators we must proceed with utmost caution regarding the material that we post to our Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. (you take your pick on your favorite form of social media); however, no matter the playing field, the rules never change. Once something is posted on the internet, it can no longer be removed. It is important for us to make the right decisions about how we want to be perceived by others in a professional environment.
Perception is the key to success anywhere. Perception is what gives a potential employer their first impression of us. Paul says that something we believe to be "witty, original and winning often comes across to the rest of the world as sloppily confessional, self-promotional or trite." We may be doing postings for our personal enjoyment, and self-expression, but we cannot control who views our material, or what their interpretation of our beliefs are.
We must not only monitor what we post ourselves, but also
what others post on our walls or profiles. Walls and profiles are a
direct affiliation of the owner of said object. The article also quotes
Adam Werbach; he says that “People will post things on my Facebook walls —
political statements that are just strange — religious rants that don’t reflect
my values,” but because of the liberty that the internet allots to people, he
cannot control the views of his friends and that may form a misconception to
anyone who reads his posts.
Technology may not only be a tool that could be detrimental
to a student's learning ability, it can also be detrimental to the new teacher
seeking employment. Just like technology can be beneficial to a student
when it is learned to be used properly, so can technology aid the teacher in
the classroom. Not only do students need to obtain a literacy for
technology so that there is an equal balance between social and educational
technology, but so does the future employee. We need to reach a point
where we either don't use technology for social media purposes and have
"TMI" on our profiles, or learn--like the student--how to create a
balance between technology for educational purposes and entertainment.
Needless
to say, the information she covers is quite haunting to think about as it
relates to the future job hunt. I sit here writing this now, thinking frantically:
Is there something on my Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr (the list is ongoing) that
would make me an unfavorable candidate for a job? The profile we created
was our responsibility to maintain, and now it is our responsibility to make
sure that it does not stand in the way of us getting a job. While the
article has a hint of humor, the matters it covers are very very real, and very
applicable to us.
If
anyone is interested in reading the article, here is the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/fashion/tmi-i-dont-want-to-know.html?ref=technology&pagewanted=all
Because of our impeding graduation and hopefully career, this realization becomes all too real for many of us. I think that our generation particularly will continue to have a difficult time with this issue because we were introduced to technology much younger than those older than us. When MySpace was first introduced I was between the age of 13-16 and my online identity became a rebellion of myself. My profile became a place where I could be myself (the self around friends) in my home. We saw it as a hidden place where parents didn't have access and therefore many kids my age went wild with sharing information. At this age and this time, the idea of a career and perception was so far away that it didn't govern the pictures or posts that we chose to include. Now years later, the realization of the danger becomes true. Unfortunately, this issue stems from the lack of education about the internet. We need to teach our students that the internet needs to be controlled and managed by an expert user. The only way to achieve this goal is by educating them and ourselves on the proper use.
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