Is nothing private anymore?

Just this past week alone, we’ve seen tragedy among teenagers and scandals erupting among celebrities. 

1.  Rumors have been flying about Ashton Kutcher’s alleged affair with 21-year-old Brittney Jones who apparently has text messages to prove Ashton’s cheating ways.

2.  NFL star and married grandfather Brett Favre allegedly left several MySpace messages and voicemails and lewd cell phone pictures to Jennifer Sterger, which are now public.

3.  Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi posted a goodbye message on his Facebook page before taking his own life after his roommate secretly filmed him with another man in his dorm room and posted it live on the internet.

4.  Karen Owen’s thesis-type Powerpoint slideshow which rated her intimate encounters with men on Duke University’s campus started as a joke for a few friends to see. But the list was forwarded to others and eventually was leaked online and went viral.

Bad press, damaged reputations, embarrassing details revealed to the public. 

What is happening to our society?  Lives are being destroyed… can we blame it on technology? 

People are abusing technology and using it to threaten, bully and destroy others.   It’s shameful.  It’s become effortless for people to hide behind a computer screen to bully others.

Is this our new way of life? 

The internet is not going away.  So how do we adjust to this new way of living?  Privacy is now a huge issue, as demonstrated in these last few weeks. 

How do we protect our children?  There are no regulations or restrictions online.  As parents, it’s our responsibility to ensure that our kids don’t grow up abusing the power of the internet.

The most important lesson we can teach our children:  don’t put anything up on the internet unless you intend for it to be distributed and seen by the masses.  Remember that anything posted online can be used against you.