"My mind possessed the wisdoms of the ages, and there were no words adequate to describe them."

When reading the article on GEN M, I kept thinking of instances in my life that reflected what average teenagers do today. First, I was just discussing the very issue of what is deemed private vs. public for teenagers with my older sister. While bored one sunday, we spent most of the afternoon creating a fake myspace profile in hopes of finding my cousin and being able to see what she really has been up to. To actually go through so much trouble in order to confirm or deny my worries was quite upsetting. Yet, she was one of the teenagers who used youtube and myspace as a lens into her life. She was exposing too much of herself, and I was afraid that she wouldn't be able to take any of it back. Thankfully, when I was in high school, I didn't have the options of keeping a blog diary or having pictures of me out and about in high school posted on facebook. What I did was able to remain private, unless I vocalized my problems. I could have embarrassing teenage moments, which everyone experiences, and not have a daily reminder of them online.

In all honesty, this topic emerged when my sister asked me about sexting. My sister, being a true thirty year old, cannot seem to remember what it was like as a teenager, an undergrad student, or a twenty-something, broke-as-a-joke graduate, so she is constantly watching high school television shows and asking me why so-and-so did this, or what was the meaning of a certain reference. That being said, she had just finished reading a story about some boys being prosecuted for sending pictures of a female classmate via text message. We talked about how frightening it is today, with cell phones, blogs, and network sites, that nobody can really be sure what they say, do, or send, is truly private. Everything can be made public with a click of a mouse or button. Building up our feelings of disgust, astonishment, and worry, we quickly began making sure that our cousins had not done anything too revealing on the internet. Needless to say, we did find a lot that we wish we could forget.

But, when it comes to using the media, I do not think that teenagers are the only group that is constantly using internet, phones, and other sources of technology to stay in touch. Last Christmas, after receiving a kindle from my parents, I immediately began using it. My sisters also were given Kindles and the three of us sat side-by-side on the couch reading. After an hour, I looked up to find a pretty amusing sight. Each one of us was focused on our electronic books, had cellphones in our hands (either texting, sending emails, or surfing the web), and A Family Stone was on the television serving as background noise. We were so connected to the media, we barely talked to each other. The only sounds coming from the room came from each piece of technology.

I will only tell one last story. When I was a freshman in college, I had a horrible roommate. Up until recently, I thought of her as the worst roommate alive. However, she did not threaten or try to kill me, so I am removing the "worst roommate alive" title from her name. Anyway, "one of the worst roommates" Amanda had set up her desk so she could type on her computer, watch the television, and jump onto her bed without turning. One night, I had crept into the room expecting her to be asleep. Why? Because the lights were off. Also, she had warned me of her need to go to sleep at 10:00 in order to wake up around 4:00 AM for crew and I always took these warnings seriously. That is because if she did not get enough sleep, I would suffer from her alarm clock blasting Barry Mannilow at 4 AM. Since she went to bed early, and Barry's voice was starting to make my ears bleed, I followed the rules she set up: if coming home after 10, I would sneak in, and not turn on my computer, television, or use my phone. If I must do any of the three things above, I would have to spend the night elsewhere. If I did any of the things above by accident, than the next time I got locked out of the suite, she would pretend to not hear my knocks and refuse to open the door.

I don't mean to go on a tangent, but talking about "one of the worst roommates" Amanda brings back vivid, painful, memories. So, I had opened the door slowly and was expecting to be welcomed with darkness, a slight snore, and not much else. Was I mistaken! Amanda was sitting at her desk, communicating with friends via AIM. I took that as an initiative to break all the rules. I started my desktop, turned on Desperate Housewives, and set my phone to ringer instead of vibrate. Just as I was getting settled, an instant message box popped up on my computer. It was from my roommate, sitting about three steps to my left. Her AIM asked me how I was doing on this evening. I looked up, partly to make sure I wasn't imagining her at her desk, and when I was sure that I was not seeing things, I vocally replied. Instead of starting a verbal conversation, she sent another message. On this went for a few minutes, until the conversation ended! Here I was, sitting next to someone and able to communicate out loud, but she was refusing to do so!

In the end, when reading the article about GEN M, I tried to decide how I would handle facebook issues. Would I set up two pages, one for my friends and one for my students? Would I erase my facebook page? Would I make it extremely private and ignore all friend requests from students? I am leaning towards the last one. This is because I do not want to see what they are doing, just as much as I do not want them to see what I am doing. Being connected through facebook is an open invitation for danger.