--Originally published at TC2027 – Blog will Tear us Apart
The first step on Rebooting a Digital Life is to understand the trouble. I’ve decided to treat this first step as an interview, here I ask some core questions to understand the situation.
For privacy reasons let’s call her P. Stratton, woman, 21.
What do you think about digital reputation?
People should be aware of their personal image and how they show themselves to the world. Usually people are not aware of the impact of what you say or do online to your real life flesh and bones.
Your current persona is not constant nor available. Why?
Sometimes I see posting on social networks as a waste of time. So I try to focus more on my daily life tasks or agenda instead of being constantly into social media.
Why did you shut down some of your networks?
I thought that shutting down some of my networks would help me concentrate more into my important tasks. I started to get overwhelmed by having to update each of my social media.
Why do you consider your current digital persona a mess?
I had two stages in my social network persona: the one that didn’t take into account building an image and just posting whatever I find interesting and the one that was aware that the past social networks should be refurbished. My social media was time consuming so later on time I figured out that disappearing was a better option.
You told me you have cyber-stalking troubles; what happened?
While in Europe, someone I met in work and befriend him on Facebook started “blackmailing” me. At first, we started flirting with each other and started hanging around. Everything was fine until I noticed he was a violent and insecure person and a manipulator as well. I thought that getting away from
When I started to keep my distance, he was pushing me to seeing him, which I refused. He told me that if I didn’t talk to him or answer his texts, Facebook messages or phone calls, he would start posting false things on Facebook and publish some pictures we had of us, which taken out of context could make people believe we were on a relationship and therefore no one could believe me he was stalking and annoying me. I bet he was crazy. He even asked me for my credit card number to purchase some train tickets, which absolutely I didn’t do!
Is there any compromising information or pictures that can still be used to blackmail you?
He still has some pictures of us that easily can be taken out of context if he wanted to. Aside from general information, he doesn’t have any information as credit card numbers or private pictures he can use for blackmailing me. The only thing he has is my phone number.
How would you like to be seen by the world?
Most important of all, I want to be seen as who I really am. I want nobody to play with my personal image. I want people to see all of my positive traits and life as it is. I don’t want to pretend to be someone I’m not, let alone allow others to do so on my behalf.
Each person uses social networks for different reasons, what do you want them to be for you?
I want them to be a connection to the world. A place where I can be aware of what’s happening around with the world and my friends and relatives. Instead of being a place to waste your time, a place to network and build a type of digital CV of yourself to the world.
Cover image by Steve Johnson, via Flickr.com
