Michael Phelps

A little off topic, but one of my class assignments is to talk about the recent Michael Phelps scandal. Not so much whether what he did was right, etc. but more the aspect of how anything you do can wind up online. There's no better proof of this then TMZ or Perez Hilton. Total trash sites and a waste of bandwidth if you ask me, but they are proof of the modern digital world were even the smallest embarrassing action can be documented.

An issue closer to home for college students like me is Facebook, and to a lesser extent, MySpace. While MySpace has always been open to the public, it's only been about two years for Facebook. So while those drunken pictures from Saturday night at the bar might seem harmless, they could paint a negative impression of you to a potential employer. I applied for a part time job this fall and my supervisor added me on Facebook. I try to make sure my profile stays fairly clean and I use the site's privacy setting to control what people can see.

While technology allows people to see almost any part of people's lives, I think a little common sense and good judgement can help avoid any embarassment. In other words, just be smart.