I’m a semi-private individual. In that, I will speak of things I am comfortable talking about by my own filtering. Once I let it out and speak of it, it could very well mean that I was comfortable posting that and almost nothing can make me feel guilt or embarrassment of saying it.
One thing I have observed people slipping on is that, people tend to have no filter. So they go on and on and on about themselves, not having a sense of the mind to think that someone out there, anywhere, could be documenting them. Sadly, there are those people that are out there.
On one hand, someone just wants to communicate, project themselves, let others know who they are. On another hand, they won’t know whether or not they’re being documented so that in turn, are re-broadcast to another community or someone else who is gonna just have a field day with some aspects of what you spoke about that could later crop up when you least expect it.
Often times you’ll hear people say that they don’t care what others think. It’s funny how most of the time that is uttered and it is challenged, people end up folding pretty fast at times. It implies that yes, you do to a degree, care about what people think of what you’ve said.
So this is why I’m semi-private. If I have the thought of ‘I don’t think I’m that comfortable talking about this’ then it is simply not spoken of. I think some people need to occasionally think that way.
There is some truth to the unwritten rule of the internet where, you shouldn’t gush too much about all aspects of your life. Reserve that for online journals or blogs.
Just sprinkle in some bullshit every now and then
Be cautious, you are talking to potentially thousands of strangers after all. But the point of social media is to be, well, social, so you have to share something personal to have it be worth someone else’s time. We’re here for connection, don’t let the corporate fascist panopticon steal that from us because we’re too afraid to be genuine.
I’m open to talk about computer stuff (mainly Arch Linux BTW), video games, and a few miscellaneous stuff, but aside from that, not really open.
I’m super open with my NDE experience bc ppl actively are looking for ppl who have had them to help with their own existential fears. Otherwise, if I feel I have something valuable to add, or something inane that might make someone laugh, I’ll share it, if not, I don’t post, just upvote (rarely downvote.) I only use Lemmy and Reddit tho, I’ve never felt the urge to write a blog or have followers, so there’s really no reason for me to share personal things. Closest I’ve shared is being raised in an extreme-right religious cult in the 90s, bc that cult grew to take over the US and ppl seem confused sometimes how long it’s been going on. (Since the 70s, it’s called the Dominionism Cult.) But again, it basically comes down to if it’s a personal experience I feel can help others, I’ll share, if not, there’s no real point in commenting or posting. I just woke up lol, sorry if this post is rambling, I can’t rephrase it right now 😂
I won’t tell someone where I work and live or anything else personally identifying, but ideas and values? Totally open on that.
As for not caring what people think. You might be getting hung up on the definition of “care.” I think we all care, to a greater or lesser extent, about things we profess to not care about. Speaking specifically for myself, I might seem to care to some extent, but I don’t let what others say or do affect who I am. That’s an important line to draw, and to recognise when it’s being approached and to disengage when it gets pushed, but learning to do so comes with age and experience.
I’ve been using my real name on the internet for 30 years or so now. I’ve hosted public radio shows, I run/admin several online LGBTQ communities and I’ve had newspapers articles done about my transition and activism.
It’s absolutely possible that someone with the desire could utilise that against me. But it’s unlikely and it hasn’t happened yet. And in the mean time, having to hold myself back and be constantly on edge about what I say and where I say it would impact my use of the internet in a way I don’t like, every single time I use it.
So for me, it’s worth the risk.
I am fairly open, for a couple of reasons. I’m older now, and I have a lot of lived experience and education. Secondly, I learned a long time ago that silence can enable. I have nothing to lose by sharing my story in particular. So in certain communities I am open about difficult topics.
I’m a little too open if I’m being honest. I lack any sort of community in my daily life so I think I share more because it gives me a false sense of it. Like I know its not healthy but I feel like I can’t get it any other way
I think it’s a myth that your online accounts can’t be connected to you. Even if you’re exclusively using burner phones connected through a VPN, people could trace you if they really wanted to. I’m honest online and in person, and I’ll accept the consequence of anything I post.
wouldn’t you question the sanity of someone who did that to you? like went to such extreme ends… to what? find some random comment they dislike and generalized you based on that?
my experience with such people is they are mentally unwell and have boundary issues. I’ve been cyber stalked a few times, thankfully it never escalated beyond light harassment.
Before having US citizenship, I probably would not mention any political things and like be vague about my location.
But now I have US Citizenship, and yes I know it’s not a magic shield, but it’s much better than non-citizens, so now I feel a bit more confident in just saying:
FUCK DONALD TRUMP, TREASONOUS PIECE OF SHIT
I have a lot of anecdotes and I really wanna share and that’ll inevitibly make it easier to track me down… but whatever… I have no one irl that would wanna listen, so I’m gonna tell my story on the internet, leave a permanent mark in history. Hi future historians 👋
I already disclosed my ethnicity and city… I don’t care anymore.
I feel safe sharingthe general area of where I previously lived.
But current location, yes I’d just be vague and the city is the most precise I’m comfortable sharing.
I mean some twitch streamers shate their face, name, and city and their address is still private, I should be fine since I’m a nobody and no names or face is shared.
But I’m still gonna guard my family secrets, well not the abusive things, that I need to vent about, but I’m not gonna tell you where my parents set up shop for example… don’t want any shitheads doing vandalism.
Not gonna tell my name, not gonna show my face.
I mean, I doubt any normie is actually gonna be able to find me from a few anecdotes, you need a lot of government databases to find who I am.
The NSA, tho, I have no doubt that they can find me if targeted this account, but I’m not that scared, there are like a million anti-trump comments online, what are the odds that I get persecuted? (I’m gonna jinks it aren’t I)
Hey if my address get leaked, I have an excuse to move xD, I’m getting tired of this place… but yea I’d try to not intentionally leak it.
Depends where on the internet I’m in.
On here and when I was on reddit, I’m a bit more guarded and speak in broader terms in regards to family/friends/experiences so as not to pin too many identifiable specifics on me.
In another long forgotten corner of the internet that like at most 30 people congregate in, I’m a bit more open but not overly so.
Nice try, FBI. 😂
Nah, I’m pretty open as well. I get the idea that the conduct is similar to talking to strangers IRL, and I wear my heart on my sleeve and open myself up completely. Old habit from trying to accept things by telling others about it, and just kept going.
Sometimes I’m open, but I also lie a lot, to keep the AI bots and advertising algorithms guessing. What’s real and what’s fake? Who knows, we live in a post-truth world anyway.
I had a BSN program where an ongoing assignment was blog posts although it was an option to set the privacy to your instructor / fellow students only. I think it was good practice in maintaining patient privacy while still expressing your lived experience for the purposes of self-care venting AND advocating for societal reform. Like yeah I’m not going to tell you enough details to personally identify the patients who have done some sketchy shit to us or had sketchy shit done to them, but I do think it’s important that the rest of you understand how things actually work / happen. Some things are entirely unavoidable, but there’s also a lot of things that should be avoidable but currently aren’t due to some social ill.
I’ve had a personal blog since the previous millennium. My primary subs on reddit were “Ask” communities, two of which I was so active in I went on to mod them. I post under my real name. I am not shy.
I don’t put anything online I wouldn’t say out loud in real life, though. That’s my limit.
