Photo Source: Dave Duarte (CC-BY-SA)
Intel’s “Mobile Etiquette” survey in 2012, aimed to “evaluate the current state of mobile manners…and examine how U.S. adults share and consume information online and how [it] impacts culture and relationships, reports that approximately 85% of US adults share information online, with 9 out of 10 US adults believing people are sharing too much information about themselves online. It also appears that 85% of US adults believe that information shared online will be there forever and that people need to be accountable for all things posted and shared online.
What is ironic however, is that the survey reports that only 51% of those surveyed would feel comfortable should all their online activity be suddenly made public.
With all the technology made available to us, it’s hard not to want to share every moment of our day with our networks. After all, the Internet provides a way for us to talk about ourselves (in my case, occasionally to myself, #noshame, #ithappens,) in a way that we feel someone is listening. And in preschool, weren’t we encouraged to share? When did the rules change? How much is too much?
It seems, unfortunately, the preschool rules of sharing don’t seem to be completely transferable online. Because unlike sharing lego pieces or that super awesome baby doll, what we share and even what others share actually contributes to what our digital dossier looks like. So are we aware of how each item we share is contributing to it? And what are the chances of the things we share impacting our future career, whether positively or negatively?
The good news is that the power is in our hands. Clearly, we are already aware of the consequences of oversharing. And at its core, sharing itself isn’t bad. So now we just need to take what we know so we can build a digital identity for ourselves that we can be proud of. WE ARE THE ~85-90%! And we can make a difference. Starting with ourselves.