Yes I am blogging at work, but it is now my lunch hour. I have been working 6 hours straight and I am wiped or whipped or whatever. Too many meetings and too many small projects and programs to justify my existence. That is another story, but probably not for blogging because of the following reason: I sent some advice (unsolicited which is what I always provide) to Hedwig-the-Owl regarding her job interviews and then I found more support for my advice. Urban Dictionary actually has the definition of this phenomenon where your blog can cost you your job! Poor Heather B. Armstrong.
Bloggers talk about their family and work relationships, this personal stuff goes out to the Web where potentially millions can read it and then it will be archived somewhere forever...it will be baaack to haunt them someday. It is amazing what people will share with the world, myself included.
This parallels another phenomenon. Celebraties willing to share intimate details of their lives with their fans and virtual strangers. I remember an interview Oprah had with Sting's wife where she talked about them trying Tantric sex to strengthen their marriage. I mean get a grip!. You are telling all of these strangers in Oprah's audience about your married sex life. And she is not the only celebrity. What about that nightmare hodge-podge of homemade videos from Brittany and her husband? (I'll admit I haven't seen it...I really have no interest in her life. And, yes, I realize the money machine was behind this.)
Is this a reflection on the isolation we all are feeling due to the busy structure of our lives? Does it reflect something else in the culture that we need to share this stuff with people we don't know and says something about our inability to communicate with people we do know? Or is this just a byproduct of our high technology society?
mmm hmmm. About a month or two ago I went back through my blog and removed any work-related posts that may provoke my employer. I began to re-phrase my stories to "this job I used to have" or "this person I used to work with" etc... Like email, nothing online is private.
ReplyDeleteI agree with peruby... nothing is private here. And it sometimes surprises me to learn that people I know in real life actually read my blog, so that further enforces my paranoia. :)
ReplyDeleteBlogging to me is just a great outlet. I think some people blog for an audience, but I just do it as a way to get those gears going in my head.
My blogging did not get a job for me, so I refuse to believe that blogging will lose a job for me. That sort of thing only happens to other people.
ReplyDeleteOkay, only sorta joking, but really, I don't say anything very important, so I have nothing to worry about. Right?
GrrlScientist
Hedwig, I don't think you said anything problematical...just the way you kept describing the interview made an alarm bell go off in my head. As "they" said, "Don't say anything you don't want to read on the front page of the New York Times tomorrow morning."
ReplyDelete