My 10 Year Old Self

In a previous post, Anjelica mentioned something that really stuck with me. She noted the fact that she doesn't do things on her Facebook she is ashamed of or embarrassed by, she is mostly just concerned about outdated things that are still in existence somewhere in cyberspace. These past actions, posts, photos, etc. can be taken the wrong way when they are removed from their original context. So even if something isn't necessarily "bad," it could still be a cause for concern for your current online image.

This got me thinking about the kids that have Facebook and are practically still in elementary school. I don't know about you guys, but when I was that age, I was weird. I'm very grateful that there is no electronic documentation of myself at age 10 and I never have to relive those weird years until my mom drags out old boxes of pictures and memories of crazy haircuts.

So the fact that Facebook never actually deletes anything poses a real problem for these current young users that they will unfortunately not realize until they can look back on those years and cringe. Sadly for them, it is not as easy as putting the boxes back in the closet, because the things they post will eternally exist somewhere on the world wide web. This is a unique thought because most of us do not have this problem since Facebook didn't come around until we were pretty much starting college.

Similarly though, many people in our generation are posting things that they very well might regret 5 years from now when they are removed from their original context. It's a perpetual problem, but I guess it's the risk we take when we sign on to something like a social network site.