The Digital You

We've seen political conversions, up to even George Wallace facing being wrong over integration. People's outlooks change over time, so you could be a saint turned sinner or a sinner turned saint. The true picture of "you" is the whole arc of your existence to the present moment. How many people "checking up on you" will bother to read to the end or even wonder if they've "read it all?"

Now we have to remind people to be thorough - or else we will refuse the sinners turned saints and accept the saints turned sinners, if we did not read "the latest" about the person. And how could we ever know if we've read "the last word"?

Isn't that just like creating a resume?  Or is this more exaggerated?

magneticnorth, I think your point is interesting because there's a whole other side of this we aren't considering: I'm not saying that you are doing this, but some people may very well be using the Web to create personalities that others would find desirable. In that case, some may be under-representing themselves, making themselves look far more fantastic and ideal in digital form than they are in RL. Hmmmmm...

Ha! Indeed. So much comes out of the woodwork these days, and the Internet greases the wheels. Years back, you'd get exposure on TV and in the papers if you had a "skeleton in the closet" and ran for office, but the Internet multiplies the momentum signficantly.

I often wonder why anybody is inspired to get into politics these days.

There are a good many things about me that I keep off the Internet, but what I do instead is to post a lot of things I want people to know about me (work, some opinions, etc.). That way people still "get to know" me, but at the same time they won't know too much about me.

Not to mention what else your high school enemies may have, hidden as trump cards for just incase you decide to run for congress :). It is amazing the power of the internet to bring one's past to haunt them.

Sometimes I'm thankful that I didn't use FB or other social sites for social or personal purposes, but came to them via work. That helped me avoid having anything up there I really regret.

That said, I can't speak for those high school yearbook photos someone else posted. (Just kidding!)

LIKE! (if there was a button)

Yes. It is difficult being this famous, alas.

Haha. True point, Lippencotte. I half threw it in as a trick answer, and half put it there on the chance there are people who've operated solely under the guise of pseudonyms and false IDs. But I iike that no one's chosen that answer so far!