...but as a single woman, I've decided I'm glad I have people knowing what I'm doing. Facebook, Twitter, and the dreaded check-in services (personally, I'm a fan of Whrrl).
I've heard arguments that (especially as a single woman) these sites are dangerous. People know EXACTLY where you are if you check in constantly. They know your habits, know where you like to shop and what bar you like to visit on Mondays after work for margaritas with friends.
But for me, I've realized, that's a GOOD thing. I'm not broadcasting my home address (my friends already know where I live). Any number of weird things could happen in public - no matter where I'm at and no matter if I twitter about it or not- and the odds of it happening because of someone who I'm friends with on Facebook are low.
Thinking about it, I'm more worried about the other people in the world than the people who know me "online". And because of that, I think having a Facebook and twittering about my life are actually good things. Helpful, even.
A few months ago, when my friend Ashlee was actually using her Twitter account, she jokingly said for me to call her mom if she hadn't tweeted by noon every day. I asked her to do the same thing. We laughed but thinking about it now (and here's the morbid part) if something WERE to happen to me (KNOCK ON WOOD, please) I'm pretty sure what I was sharing online would be a helpful part of figure out where the heck I was all day and who I was spending time with.
Last weekend, when my roommate was gone, I decided to go for a walk. It was the middle of the day, but WHAT IF? My roommate would have come home a few days later to discover the cats hadn't been fed in days and if it was a work week (and I hadn't taken taken those days off for vacation) I'm pretty sure my coworkers would be concerned and call, etc.
But if the last thing I had done online was post a Facebook status about "taking a walk" I'm pretty dang sure that would be helpful to the police searching for me.
So, don't feel weird if you know where I am or what I'm doing a lot of the time. I am totally okay with that.
/morbid post over