Growing up in the public eye
I'm on vacation, and catching up on a lot of blog reading after putting my son to bed. A few things started me ruminating:
- Star Trek TNG is playing in the background (gotta love Spike TV), and there was an episode with Wesley Crusher in it. A few months ago I ran across Wil Wheaton's blog and read this post which touches on growing up on TV in the public eye.
- I've been thinking more about how to strike a good balance personal-vs-business/tech in blogs.
- While I was on maternity leave this summer, I spent a good amount of time sitting on a glider watching TV (thank goodness for Tivo), and the I love the 70s/80s shows on VH1 were one of the highlights of my day. (Just wait, I'll pull this together soon) These shows featured a lot of actors and actresses from the 70s/80s, such as Kim Fields (Tudy on Facts of Life), who also talked about growing up on TV and how horrible it was.
- Christa from the last round of Survivor posted to various newsgroups trying to score some drugs, and unfortunately for her, it was unearthed.
As awkward and embarrassing and stupid I was as a teenager, at least I only had to grow up in front of a few hundred people - I can't imagine doing it in front of thousands or millions. I can't help but compare the plight of the child actor (and the hapless internet user who doesn't realize their every word is being archived) to the kids (and adults, but at least we're supposedly more aware of the consequences of our actions) baring their souls on weblogs today.
Will we regret any of this in ten years? I know I'm already going to be in trouble, since I posted naked pictures of my son. If I'm still blogging when he's older, he's really going to be pissed. :-)
