Rick Santorum, yes the former presidential candidate, has a Google headache. When searching his name on the famous search engine, fake definitions of santorum appear. The words depict a result of a rather vulgar sex act. Here is the link to express the severity of the issue, sorry Rick! Santorum wants Google to clean up the search results for his name and one could only side with him. A man’s reputation, livelihood and self-esteem are at hand here.
Scott Rubin, Google’s spokesman, said, “We have a bias toward free expressions. That means that some ugly things will show up.” How scary is that? Yes, the tools provided by the World Wide Web are incredibly useful, but how far is too far? How much is too much and can digital media disintegrate people’s lives.
Most of the information put forth on this blog has had a positive vibe. However, this is not the case on September 22, 2011. Digital media needs to be used cautiously. One cannot post whatever they want on the internet and expect it to be viewed by a general audience. Anything put on the web can be used against one in a negative way. The way one tweets or updates a status on Facebook can have an entirely different meaning online. F2F interaction seems to be the easiest way to comprehend one’s tone through body language and voice, but those aspects can become lost in cyberspace.
Every week athletes are being misinterpreted or misrepresented through their tweets on Twitter. Are these so-called role models lashing out and expressing their feelings negatively or is that just how we perceive their comments? Players are being fined for what they say on Twitter and are getting bad reputations for how we comprehend their words. Is that fair to them? No, but digital media can be an evil tool. Everyone needs to examine the pros and cons of the digital world in their own eyes. The pros by far outnumber the cons in many situations, but as with anything, the cons still exist. Be smart about the release of information and monitor your digital output. Embrace digital media, but be careful!
