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Monday, June 1, 2009

Footsteps in Cyberspace

Many of us do not realize the permanence of cyberspace. Even those among us who are computer savvy do not appreciate the fact that things written on the web are a lot more permanent than one could imagine.

Why do I bring this up? Let me tell you. Last year, I was talking to a friend who has a child of age for shidduchim. In the course of our conversation she told me she checked a prospective shidduch on Google, and she was able to see pictures, a profile, and other information.

Now I am on Google constantly, and I will head there first for almost any kind of information, but I must say this was a new idea to me. So first I thought, “Great, another source of information!” ...and then I thought, “Gevalt!” Do you know how many young girls and boys write all kind of foolish things on the net in places like Facebook, blogs, etc.--Girlish confidences, funny pictures etc. Just imagine 4 to 6 years from now when someone puts their name in Google: Result 1 to 2750 of 155,905.165 for plony ben plony. Scary thought!

So besides the conversation with your kids about not giving any personal information on the web, have a conversation about making sure that what they write will not embarrass them years down the line. That goes for any adult that is on the web as well.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

All true but you need to add something about pictures. When a name comes up, my kids go on Facebook etc and if they see photos of the guy doing something silly, or what, in other contexts would just be a poor photo, they say they don't like the look of him and that shidduch goes out of the window too.

Basmelech said...

Look at http://shidduchim101.blogspot.com/2009/01/word-about-pictures.html

Because we live in a "throwaway" society, we reject shidduchim for minimal or no reason. That is part of the problem why we have 27 and older good kids still not married.