or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk


Overheard Anachronism

   June 5th, 2007 Brian Herzog

While straightening up our computer area the other day, I overheard the following conversation between two high school girls who were using MySpace:

Girl 1: ...I hate John, he's creepy. I'm sure he watches my MySpace.
Girl 2: Yeah, he's weird.
Girl 1: No, don't comment on me - he'll follow your link back to yours and then read all your stuff, too.
Girl 2: I don't care, I don't have anything to hide. My life is an open book.

First, this exchange seemed underscore some recent articles stating that teens are not nearly as naive and vulnerable online as people think.

However, I wondered about the appropriateness of the phrase "open book" in this context. It's akin to television shows telling people "don't touch that dial," even though no one uses a dial to change channels anymore.

Perhaps it is only a matter of time until the hip screenagers and millennials replace the phrase "my life is an open book" with "my life is a public profile."

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