Relationship 2.0: Living Online Doesn’t Need to Be Life Online

By most accounts, people wouldn't think I'm a very private person. I'm online most of the day. I blog in several places. I'm active on most social media sites. Most people are aware that my husband is also online and on Twitter and FriendFeed, and that I have four children and that my youngest is a huge fan of Seesmic. So it would seem I'm pretty open in that regard.

Anything revealed, however, is surface-level. I don't use my children's real names. I don't discuss any of the real-world issues that my family faces for the most part. I have an anonymous personal blog for venting and anything that I write about my kids. l try very hard to keep my professional life professional, and that includes its existence online.

So I find it curious to find so much of other people's lives online. Revealing children's names and lifestreams is obviously a parent's personal choice, but I'm talking about multi-page articles dissecting relationships and Ignite presentations announcing break-ups. In the quest to mimic the culture of celebrity prevalent in Hollywood, Silicon Valley seems to believe that the lack of personal privacy that comes along with celebrity is a way to become a weblebrity.

Am I too old-school to comprehend this new culture of oversharing? Or am I right in wondering that if some of this younger generation has children later, having detailed information about mommy or daddy's prior relationships on the never-ending archive of the Web might not be the conversation you want to be having?

On last night's Comedy Central program Louis Black's The Root of All Evil, Black refers to the cult of weblebrity bloggers:

"It used to be that in order to become a newsman, you would at least put on pants and leave your house. That all ended shortly after Al Gore invented the Internet and someone posted the first weblog… because why be a pathetic loser in private when you can exhibit your worthlessness to the entire world?"

Black may be onto something. He usually is. What differentiates the professionals from the amateurs to the people outside the echo chamber is the ability to put a work-focused face to the world while keeping your personal issues at home. Maybe one of the reasons that Web 2.0 and the tech blogosphere don't have more credibility is the tabloid focus that results in this oversharing.