Reading Week marked the beginning of a much needed break from classes. A classmate, her boyfriend and I decided to take a road trip to Boston and New York City to see some friends and get out of Toronto.
The friend we visited in Boston is a childhood friend of mine. We went to church together and when her father’s company transferred him to the States in grade six, our families stayed in touch. We usually see each other once or twice a year at my parent’s house in Newmarket, and it’s always nice to catch up.
Now she’s married to a nice American guy and they have a house and a dog, but I had never been down to visit them there. Since there are certain snack foods we enjoy in Canada that are unavailable in the U.S., I made sure to bring along a couple bags of chips, specifically ketchup and dill pickle flavoured – Yum!
Now, I may have been farther from school than usual, but social media is never out of mind these days.
This became really apparent when I called my sister to tell her I had arrived safely, and she said, “Well, I figured you had. Laura already posted pictures on Facebook of the chips you brought her.”
I had only been there about two hours! I jokingly teased Laura about her speedy posting and then she also admitted to tweeting out a similar message.
It’s pretty incredible that other people can keep track of my movements through the postings of others. The same thing happened in New York. We visited my former roommate and saw some city sights including a carriage ride around Central Park, and before the end of the day she had already posted the pictures! I’ve been home for over a week now and still haven’t found the time to post pictures.
Friends called and left me messages saying, “I didn’t even know you were away, but I saw the pictures!”
It seems that despite best efforts it’s nearly impossible to be “off the grid” these days. I routinely go through my tagged photos and un-tag myself. There are just some memories that shouldn’t be public knowledge – like the night I decided to drink the hotel dry on vacation and was sick all over myself. Do I really want a potential employer seeing those pics? Do I really want anyone seeing those pics? Not really. It wasn’t my finest few hours.
It’s a different world we’re living in and every moment can be captured and saved for posterity (or blackmail!), so make sure you’re aware of the image you, and others on your behalf, are projecting.
No comments:
Post a Comment