My grandpa called my dad on the phone the other night to thank him for "inviting him to Facebook."
I got an email from my company's HR department today outlining their New Social Media Guidelines with a warning that I (generically speaking) may regret talking too much about religion or politics on my blog.
Former students ask to be my friends on GoodReads.
Do your worlds--be they generational, professional, or otherwise--ever collide on the internet? And how do you respond when they do?
I think the internet is helping me be less compartmentalized than I am in real life. That could be bad, but I'm choosing to see it as good.
3 comments:
Interesting! I've never had any students friend me on Goodreads, but Facebook's another story. My rule of thumb has been to never approve anyone who's in my class that current semester (when I'm no longer officially their instructor, I don't feel as weird about it). But I admit, it was a little odd to post something on Facebook about being pregnant, and get electronic congratulations from faculty members in a supervisory position to me. Fortunately they're very baby-friendly here (perhaps even more so than at BYU), and I'm always getting asked when I'm going to bring my kids in again.
I've had several students "friend" me or invite me to "share books" on goodreads. I have a rule: only when they are no longer a student. Period. Also, the lack of compartmentalization is another reason why I have resisted starting a blog. Our private lives are increasingly subject to public scrutiny and institutional oversight. I've learned that if I want to have a private life, I have to work hard to keep it that. Technology "connects" us, but with any new technology, with good comes unanticipated ills. We cannot control how our media is used by others. Am I a Luddite? Perhaps. Misanthrope? Definitely. :)
All worlds collide on facebook. It's helped me relax around those people because I feel like they all know who I am a little better. For some reason it makes me feel balanced. It's nothing as drastic as student teacher relationships, but pharmacists that I IT for and church and things like that.
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