social commentary Sunday . . . 'cyber stalking'

Greetings all,
Social media & getting your 'cyber fix' is just part of life these days . . . having an on line profile is de rigueur whether you are a business, hoping to find old friends, creating a life diary for your child or simply have interesting things to say.  I've kept my children's names, dates of birth & other 'points of identification' off line, to maintain their privacy . . . why make it any easier for anyone to steal your identity, now or in your children's future??
Lately i've been wondering . . . what if all this online profile business was around when i was a child??  Hopefully i'd have more than 3 photos of myself before i started school!!  After listening to my nieces & nephews confirm relationships, friendly gossip & up-to-the-minute holiday news via FaceBook, it kind of freaks me out, how much personal information is out there.  Do they realise they are declaring their movements - where to find them (clubs, schools, jobs) & who they'll be with??  When social media attaches the location you are at - to status updates, how can anyone cheat - lovers, employers, teachers??  I don't like to post 'that i'm away' when i'm away (burglars) but when i'm tagged in a photo at an interstate event . . . it automatically tells the world & i don't have control over that, unless i delete my on line profile.  

I can honestly say i have never gone through my husband's phone messages/ call list/ email/ pockets . . . i'm just not snoopy.  My mother used to tell us where she hid our Christmas gifts so we wouldn't accidentally find them while searching for dress ups or board games in her wardrobe.  I'm not a saint & i don't like surprises, but i respect people's privacy. 

But . . . as a teenager, OMG, in my room, alone, with the internet & cute boys' names written on my arm, i really wonder if i could resist doing some research on them??  Would i check out where my future boyfriend is spending Summer & bump into him at that beach??  I really wouldn't trust an immature me.  Would i be possessive, dream up a fantasy life with a boy i saw on my bus, cross check his school on line & hope to find a picture of him on, work out his name, cyber stalk him??  Can't say i wouldn't.  In high school i wanted to be a police detective as i was really good at solving puzzles & i started on the forensics path at University.  A year later i met my handsome soldier, no cyber stalking (it was 1994) but i just remembered, he said if i hadn't given him my number he would have looked it up in my Army Reserve records & made some excuse to call me anyway.  Now who is the stalker??  Oh this generation just isn't terrified like we were with movies like Fatal Attraction & Basic Instinct.  Bunny boiler anyone??  Ok, i've never seen these movies but i know the premise, just never ends well for Michael Douglas, the quintessential pants man. 

I think i would be a terrible cyber girlfriend, i really do think i would google a boy before a date!!  While i have never been a jealous person, would i feel differently if i checked his history with girls, where they went, how pretty she was??  It could be so insane!!

Would you trust a yourself to not check someone out on line??  Are you dating now, or what about a pre-internet you??  Do you cyber stalk??  Have you been cyber stalked??  This doesn't include bloggers finding you at a bloggie event, or many of you would be saying "yeah, that Posie girl came right up to me at a market/ craft event/ meeting & said you must be such & such, totally freaking me out!!"  I find it so fascinating, love Posie