If you pretend to be me, then I’ll be someone else.

When I entered my first chat room in 1994, I didn’t use my real name. These were strangers and I was a smart 12-year-old. By 1995, I used my real name. My first name, at least. Since then I have been putting more and more of my life on the iInternet. I had an online journal at 14 and I share parts of my life with worldwide strangers since. 

After ten years of putting my phone number and email address (and sometimes home address) on the Internet, I have finally been burned. So many people have been shocked to find my contact information this easily. “What? Nothing ever happens. Nobody calls.” For ten years. The last month has been past due, then. 

I have changed my phone number and I’m using a new email address. 

Aside from the obvious inconvenience, this situation leaves me really sad. I am sad about a world where I have to hide. I am sad about people who maliciously hurt others. And I wonder how it got to be like this.

For one, everyone is more searchable now than ever before. When I first heard about the “Information Age” I always assumed academic information, never personal. Personal information is easy to Google or to find on Facebook. Instead of AOL screennames with a string of numbers, we now use our full names in Gchat. We include our home addresses and employer information in online profiles. We list how we know our friends in social networks. Everything is so available. That was my first mistake, and a mistake compounded by twelve years of exploiting my life in every medium I could pioneer.

Second, some people just go crazy and the internet has made that much easier. If we get a tracking number, we check on the package arrival information several times a day until it’s delivered. If we suspect our significant other is cheating, we can hunt down their whereabouts on Facebook or Flickr, check browser history, and even steal passwords. And if we want to hurt people’s lives, we can pretend to be them with calling cards and anonymous emailer websites. None of these are normal.

If you pretend to be me, then I’ll be someone else.