Spheres Collide
“If relationship George walks through this door, he will kill independent George. A George divided against itself, cannot stand.”
I can almost hear George Costanza (from Seinfeld, for those of you that have been living under a rock for the past 20 years). spewing those same words today. But instead of “relationship George” and “independent George,” he could just as easily be saying “internet George” and “real-life George.” Almost inevitably, the popular character of Seinfeld would have a Facebook, Twitter, or some kind of social networking device allowing the him to clumsily post grievances about his job at The New York Yankees, or tweet out his affair with the cleaning lady at Pendant Publishing. Think of the comic possibilities! Without a doubt, George Costanza would experience a collision of viral proportions.
I call it the “Spheres Colliding Theory”—when one is caught between the life they lead and the life they tweet. The intersection of these dual identities is becoming more and more evident, as our sometimes have radical implications on our real world selves. We tend to think of these areas as separate. Our familiarity with the Internet and operations in the cloud sometimes lead to a false sense of security and anonymity. (Think about those stories of average suburban dads running bordellos in Second Life). In reality, accountability is alive and well. Creating a broadly mediated self across the spheres is an important part of living in a digital age.
This is by no means to be taken as a cautionary tale against the use of the Internet. Indeed, many people go about their daily lives happily integrated in both their online and physical lives, bringing themselves closer to lost friends, connecting with family members, and voicing their opinions on forums and blogs. The key to their success: consistency and mediation between the spheres.
The real-life effects of un-self-censored online content run the gamut. In 2007, David Michael Noordewier was fired from his customer service position at Wal-Mart for posting a pretty tastelessjoke about bombing all the Wal-Marts to increase population I.Q. on his MySpace page. He was denied unemployment benefits because his actions were clearly not in the best interests of his employer
Even a simple Facebook update, such as Kimberly Swann’s “bored at work,” can be accessed by employers and used as cause for termination. Kimberly’s boss stated that the update was an indication of her unhappiness with the company, and that they were looking for individuals who were more invested in their work. Earlier this month, a California Pizza Kitchen worker was fired for tweeting out his opinions on the new company uniform: “@calpizzakitchen black button ups are the lamest shit ever!!!.” The firing sparked lively debate over whether or not this “tweet” warrants the actions taken by the company.
Perhaps a bit more shocking is the case of an EMT who took pictures of a murder victim, who had been strangled to death, with the hairdryer cord still wrapped around her neck, and posted them on Facebook.
Termination is not the only result of Spheres colliding. The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act , which was named for a girl who took her life after falling victim to cyber-bullying, was introduced to Congress in April of 2009. While it raised concerns over First Amendment violations, the bill targets “Serious, repeated hostile communications made with the intent to harm.” Although similar to existing harassment legislation, the new bill recognizes that cyberspace is still a Wild Wild West as far as social conventions and appropriate behavior goes.
Jose Antonio Vargas of the HuffingtonPost writes: “All the Internet does is reflect — and amplify — human behavior.” And he’s probably right. Cyber-bullies might still be bullies without the Internet, but they would be forced to conduct themselves as such in front of their peers, and at the risk of being seen by supervisors like teachers and principals. A no-holds-barred approach to the Internet may lead one to act out in anger or frustration in a way that they would not normally if the interaction was face-to-face.
As more people join the social media fray, we can only expect more examples of spheres colliding. We must be prepared for what George Costanza feared the most:the collision of two identities. When spheres collide, they do not necessarily spew destructive shrapnel as long as we responsibly mediate ourselves across them, and remember that the cyber-world is an extension of, not an alternative to, the one we live in now.
