Althouse: "Ever since 3rd period today, I now know that I have sex appeal. It rox!"

November 3, 2005

"Ever since 3rd period today, I now know that I have sex appeal. It rox!"

Teens and their blogs.

8 comments:

Ron said...: Before I saw the 'Teens and their blogs' line, I thought, 'Now why would Ann say that about...herself?'; 11/3/05, 9:15 AM
reader_iam said...: Aren't the implications fascinating?

Fast-forwarding a few decades, will it be possible to find anyone (young now or yet to be born) who WON'T have at least some type of public, accessible "paper(less)" trail?

For all we know, for example, apotential Supreme Court nominee or two of 2040 or so are busily disclosing all sorts of things or putting forth all sort of opinions as we speak, and may continue to do so for years. Food for thought.

What teen, after all, much less kid, and even young adult, really thinks far, far ahead in terms of the implications of current actions? Some do, but I suppose most don't (hell, many of us "olders" don't, not really). And we are living in an ever-more self-disclosing world, with ever more permanent, public modes of communication.; 11/3/05, 9:19 AM
Lonesome Payne said...: As reader_iam says, I also sometimes wonder if we are moving to a future of absolutely no privacy - a totally disclosed if not "self-disclosed" world.

Will it be possible to be free in that context? I think we will make it possible. Will it be real freedom or an illusion of freedom? Does it matter?

Very seriously: will someone please make me some breakfast.; 11/3/05, 11:12 AM
reader_iam said...: buffpilot: Exactly! I was just giving a single example to point to a a real and true paradigm shift, the implications of which are far-reaching. And I also agree with you 100% about the, well, 100%!

Then again, if all is exposed and all is available, and that is true of all people at least in the more tech-using, educated, and relatively affluent 1st World (to use the term loosely), will that mean people will care less about what people did at an earlier time? Or will the climate be even more ugly and society even more fractured into opposing and paranoid camps?

I think about these things a lot, for a lot of reasons, not the least of which are 1) we are deeply involved and invested in technology around here and 2)we have a young son. We talk and think about these implications all the time.

At the same time, the very day of my son's birth, his father reserved multiple domain names for him (though we haven't posted anything through those yet). And he knows our e-mail addresses, along with his own. So we're also complicit (though extremely vigilant).; 11/3/05, 11:24 AM
reader_iam said...: paulfrommple: Sorry, I see you already you made the point about whether it will matter, and better; we must have been simulposting (did I mention my fascination with how technology is rapidly morphing our vocabulary)?

Maybe someday we will be able make cybermeals for cyber compatriots via Virtual Reality technology; fat-free and low-carb, too! ;); 11/3/05, 11:32 AM
Synova said...: I think there will be less misrepresentation. Not because there isn't more odd information out there, but because the people making the choices will *also* have a huge body of juvenile rantings out there. Will they believe it when someone says "Alito hates women" without demanding context and long term pattern analysis?

I can see a lot of that being automated as well as making up a market of sorts for people who will do the analysis.

Think about it. Already photographs don't have the power they once had as evidence because everyone knows that a digital photo can be manipulated. It's likely that direct quotes, first of all... they can be manipulated like any other digital information, even when they are considered genuine will be viewed skeptically. The sheer volume combined with the unreliability of the data will work against any tendency to put a great deal of importance on that data.

Erasing services might be hot for a while, until everyone realizes that trying to get rid of a decade of anti-circumcision activism only makes matters worse... what did you have erased Mr. Jones? What are you trying to hide?; 11/3/05, 12:38 PM
CM said...: I just hope the word "screenagers" doesn't catch on.; 11/4/05, 7:19 AM
knox said...: "screenagers"

Ruth Anne, is that you? If not, you've got some competition!; 11/4/05, 10:19 AM