The way in which information is sought, the desired depth in information content and problems with information seeking can be related to personality. Use of information sources could more strongly be related to discipline.
rent a car

well, every one is strabger untill we meet with him/her and it's not wasting of time but its expanding social or business network.

i know, right! it's a generational thing that we feel this way though. Gen Y thrives on self authorship and internet self actualization. they think we are so paranoid and uptight for fearing that this stuff will be read/applied inappropriately later.

Great insight.
:O) That is until they apply for a job that is high profile. But maybe by then it will be so commonplace to have all our information out there that it all cancels out. Will it make electing a president easier? Or deciding to whether or not to date that person? Or to hire because we have the same fetishes?
I am looking forward to seeing how this all works out. :O) ophelia

Ya me also I get so tired of leaving trails of cyber DNA everywhere.

I think that the most interesting thing that the Transparency Age has brought us is that we "know" all about other people, but when you really think about it all we know is that which people have let drift out into the ether.

In the world of Social Media, all this knowledge is the same type that we have for celebrities -- surface. It's just an assortment of facts without context or depth.

I think a big question is how all of this effects the way we think about our interpersonal relationships.

Great as always Ophelia.

So well written and so true...

My random and unsolicited two cents (adjusted for inflation, of course):

As random as this is, I recently read an interview between Oprah and Pema Chodron, a Tibetan Buddhist nun from (I think) New Jersey (and my apologies if I'm remembering her words incorrectly).

Chodron described existence, as perceived from the Buddhist standpoint, as a monsoon, with endless billions of unique raindrops (moments in our lives) each of which are capable of being experienced individually, though people cannot handle all of them without being swept away by the flood. The goal of the Buddhist, as concerns dealing with existence, in her version, is to know, experience, and ultimately to be each of those raindrops all at once, without becoming lost in the storm.

What you said about raindrops and information made me think of that. I'm not sure how to apply it to the internet and the craziness of social networking, but I'm not sure TMI is a new problem for humanity. Certainly the telecommunications side of it is new for everyone, but perhaps for us in the 'wired' world, the only thing new is having to deal with Too Much Information. People who have dealt with intense suffering in less fortunate places and times won't know what their neighbors had for lunch, for example, but they have to handle crop failures, troop movements, secret police, and a thousand other bits of information, manifested as shells falling in your neighborhood or starving children down the street, that no person should ever have to deal with all at once.

If people can adapt to TMI like that, we can handle the internet. At least we have the luxury of unplugging when we want.

With the internet we have been able to see what is happening around the world instantly. The earthquake in Sichuan, Myanmar, riots in Paris, the beauty of the lunar eclipse last February. You are right that we need to adapt to the suffering of others, rather than the banality of someone's bad lunch at a local cafe. How do we harness the power of information? We can spread the news by just clicking.

And being swept away by a flood of information is a very scary scenario.

thank you for the wonderful comment.:O)

Oh dear. Now I'm wanting to erase some of those tidbits. And, yes, knowing what someone presents as his or herself in an online profile is quite different from shaking his or her hand. Online dating anyone? In-the-flesh communications are many times removed from cyber varieties. Maybe it's just the absence of pheromones. Would some scratch and sniff method prove useful?

that would be funny. you could be online with a potential date, but the "Sniffer" on your desktop would shoot out a whif of pizza and stale socks from the other side.

Great Post! One may "know" a lot about an online person, but what use is this "know" without context? I know where you had lunch, but why and how were you there? Information without meaning is just an extension of our online nihilism.

Knowing too much, but not knowing enough. It is a giant costume ball with complex costumes that only give a glimpse of reality. A nonrandom sample of the constellation of events that give a person his/her definition. Yet, it is a door, and if one is patient and discerning the costumes slowly give way to reality, and in the process friends are made, blemishes and all, and lives are changed. Once, again, you've made me think! Thanks, stimulating my synapses with your carefully chosen electrons..

I love your analogy. Contact whether its first online or off is the first step in the dance. I am an extrovert by way of genetics. I can't help but talk to strangers, and smile at them. So the internet is a playground built just for me.

But wasn't Chance obsessed with his television???? See - he was truly a 20th Century man. If he was born in 1990 and grew up in that DC townhouse - he might only know how to exist via web, you know?

That would be even scarier if someone only knew the world via the web. :O) Back in 1971 there were maybe 10 channels broadcasting. Now Chance would be accessing millions of sites. And he would be able to interact with people if he chose to. I wonder if there is an article on someone who is a shut-in and they only interact via the web.

great article! =)
of course, it's not about good or bad, but about recognizing the condition and the alternatives (the existence of alternatives), and you allude to that.

another aspect is that there is no internet etiquette. Is it rude if I dont reply to an email from a distant classmate inviting me to another online community? Is it inconsiderate to leave blog comments unanswered?
With virtually no way for EVER being out of touch, people will have to reevaluate the value of communication, and understand how tactless it is to neglect "communication with self".

hello hayk.

:O) thanks for reading the article.

ophelia

With the anonymity of the internet, you have no rules to live by. Only your inner morality can guide your behavior. Offline we are held to certain rules because we are in the physical world. Online we are nothing but keystrokes under screen names. If we use our real names than we hold ourselves accountable for our behavior. It's the invisible leash that holds us inside a boundary we set for ourselves.

Now that we carry phones that access email, we are never out of touch, the only excuse we can use is poor reception. With the apps like Brightkite and Loopt, we can locate anyone (who has let us) track them.

I want to be the 20th Century Man, but can I cut those ties to the radio waves? I don't think I can. And that is the gist of it. I am tethered to that world of constant communication.

as you said, everyone makes their own rules. i think the beauty is that you CAN choose to cut the ties or not. there is something to lose in either case, but it is a choice. and balancing the two seems the best.
You cant be the 20th Century Man, and you can be his 21st century equivalent; you can find him, but he doesnt care much, and he sees no value in responding to every stranger.
=)

Hallo Ophelia, dearie,

Telling all is too scary for me, and being too mysterious is boring. Trying to find the balance.

Thanks for the article! Love hearing from you.

Cheers,
Emily

You tell enough. Your art speaks volumes. :O) ophelia

Some places I don't leave a real name and only use an email I keep as backup not connected to me just because I get so tired of leaving trails of cyber DNA everywhere. At the same time, I have friends I like to communicate with and I'm home most of the time so this is it. A blessing and a curse.

I have met the most amazing people online. But I only meet people on sites I am very active on and trust. And only on the sites that uphold their TOS
(twitter, well, they're working on it)

:O)

Very good point. There iare tons of text people leave, but the information behind it is not much and not trustworthy. TMUI (too much useless information) ;-) It's the analogue of neighbour chatting in this borderless 21st century.

Yes you are right. You have to have a filter for all that information. How do you discern what is useful and not? One day it might be, another not. I have always had too much sitting on my desktop waiting to be read, but I haven't the time to do it all. Maybe have audio streamed into headphones while I sleep might work...but then who wants to dream about the latest social network or face book app? (that would be a nightmare actually)
thank you nikola for your insightful comment.:O) Ophelia