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Candidates, on the other hand, need to ensure their online presence is something they are proud of (and happy to defend) if seen by friends, parents, clerics and potential employers, IMHO.

The problem is that this is difficult, especially for younger people.

I've had various online aliases over the years, most of which have been abandoned because they no longer reflect me at all.

Let's say you were 16-18 and naive and got roped into some extreme political or religious cult group (this didn't happen to me btw). You might post all kinds of things and at the time you would probably be totally convinced that these were things you would be happy to share forever.

Basically, we need to tell kids "don't post anything online under your real name unless you would be happy to tattoo it onto your forehead"




> Basically, we need to tell kids "don't post anything online under your real name unless you would be happy to tattoo it onto your forehead"

And even that's probably not enough. Look at all the people who regret tatoos they've gotten. We're simply not very good at predicting how our lives or perspectives may change over time.


I was just having a discussion with my 10-year-old son about this, you know "talk to your kids about Facebook before someone else does?".

The guideline that I came up with is "don't post anything, anywhere, that you wouldn't be comfortable seeing on the front page of the newspaper".

Now all I have to do is keep drumming that message into him for the next three years.




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