Holiday Cleaning

Have you ever heard the words, “holiday cleaning”….?  Holiday cleaning refers to a special type of cleaning that people do once a year. Once a year people all over America (maybe even all of the world) clean out their residences of all the stuff that they acquired over the past year/s that they don’t want anymore. For example, one my get rid of boxes of papers or clothes that don’t fit anymore. Holiday cleaning is a way of keeping one’s space organized and relevant. This year, I propose that along with cleaning one’s physical, real life space that we also clean out our non-real life space, primarily our Facebooks. I noticed recently that my Facebook was full of applications, information, and pictures which are no longer relevant. While they do not create much clutter or take up a lot of space, they are still sometimes very annoying. For example: suppose you are applying for a job and the person interviewing you asks if wouldn’t mind sitting down with them and showing them your Facebook (unlikely, but possible). Right away your in a jam… you may have photos from high school or college that would incriminate you, or make the person interviewing less inclined to hire you. What about having photos on your Facebok which portray you and your multiple past boyfriends or girlfriends??...Depending on the type of person your current partner is, they may not be very happy.

While applying holiday cleaning to the flushing out of one’s Facebook may seem pretty ridiculous, I think there is something to be said about it. Facebook was created a social networking tool, a way for people to connect online. Instead of just connecting, people are now sharing, sharing high amounts of personal information with many people. With everyday that I live and learn more about the world, I realize that we are true “test dummies” of the Internet. No one really knows what happens to their information once it is officially edited onto the Internet (regardless of privacy settings). That to me is very scary because there is always an outside chance that it could someday pop up again at the most unexpected or worst time.

I recently cleaned out my Facebook. Not only did I delete hundreds of photos but I also deleted a lot of information that I previously had written in my “bio” section. My theory for deleting photos is that I don’t want someone to be able to learn too much about my life by scrolling through an album of a few hundred photos. The same theory applies to my “bio.” If one really wants to know what kind of music I like or what my favorite books and move are, then I believe that they should just ask me, Asking me would create a more meaningful situation in which we could converse and share thoughts, ideas, and opinions.

No matter your reason, this holiday season I urge to consider the idea of cleaning out your Facebook and similar sites that hold information about you online. What’s there may be there (on the Internet) forever, but seeing as we do not know the true power of the Internet yet, it does not seem wise to constantly keep pushing the limits.

O yeah, by the way…..I hope y’all have a great holiday season!

Thanks for reading!