I consider myself to be a somewhat Internet-savvy person. Hey, I know how to watch videos on YouTube; upload pictures on Picasa; watch missed TV shows on hulu; maintain accounts on various social and professional networks; blog!
But you know what? Lately I've had this 'Less is More' feeling, at least with respect to social networking sites. I am on Orkut, Facebook, LinkedIn, Shelfari etc. and not surprisingly, I'm finding it more and more difficult to keep track of everything. The various user ids, passwords, nicknames/avatars, birthdays, special days, comments, photos...
Oh yes, the photos! Sometimes, out of the blue I get a comment from a 'friend' about a photo that I posted somewhere. I had no idea he/she could see it! Uh...that is not a very comforting feeling. Sure, people post all kinds of things on the net these days but common sense dictates that the less you display, the safer it is. Not that I have any scandalous photos/videos to show, I'm just saying!
Also, the fact that my friends' friends can see what my friends' friends are writing on my/their walls...kind of creepy, isn't it? Recently I read about the change in the privacy rule for Facebook. Ok, so they're taking the privacy issue seriously. But somehow, it doesn't do much for me.
I realise that I'm sounding like an ancient, distrustful, parochial dinosaur in today's 'flat' world, but I am really thinking of cancelling all my electronic networks. After all, if someone wants to get in touch with me real bad, they can always e-mail me, call me or come and see me in person. Or, at the very least, leave a comment here!
Right?
