Sharing and Privacy

The internet is such a mixed blessing. Overall, I enjoy the openness of communication, and randomly keeping up with the various tidbits, exciting or mundane, of my friends and relatives. The open posting of life details, videos, pictures, is a remarkable way to do this.

However, this high level of access also comes with some risks. I tend to view them as minimal. My life is too boring to have scathing details that risk public exposure, I doubt a posting will come back to haunt me as I run for office in ten years (because that's just not going to happen) and I'm a little too old for cyberbullying.

Still, details of friends, family, children are a gray area and I have to respect those who feel that that is not information that should be available, however obscure and trivial, to a wider audience. So for better or for worse, the blog will transition to be mostly about the details of my own life.

I've removed previous posts that potentially intruded upon the specifics of the lives of others (unless given permission to share those details - like my Dad's hand fracture).

Writing / journaling is a cathartic, satisfying process, which is part of why I do it. I have a definite genetic predisposition to it, I'm sure (thanks Dad). Sharing the details of day to day living on an open forum like this is not so much an exercise in narcissism as an urge to share my thoughts and experiences with others, and a reciprocity to those other individuals and families whose posts, photos, stories, and other online communications I enjoy.

I won't belabor the point beyond this particular entry, but I thought a post of explanation was in order.