Certainly Not Simple

“The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.” - Oscar Wilde

I found myself quoting Oscar Wilde today at the opening of a workplace investigation for one of my clients. It was a long morning that resulted in many tears, a few revelations and some significant learnings - at least for the young woman who lost her job at the end of my investigation. I did some learning myself. Investigating in the days before technology was different than it is today. I've been operating under the assumption that people are savvy enough, smart enough, to realize the risks of saying things on text messages or in emails. But apparently, not so much. At least I know one person is smarter tonight than she was this morning. Lesson learned - the hard way.

I've been reflecting a bit on technology and the "technology generation". So much of their normal lives is still foreign to a middle aged Luddite like me. I'm a Facebook friend to several young people and through those friendships, I often see things posted on their friends' Facebook pages. Sometimes it shocks me - not just the pictures of the drinking and partying, but most especially the pictures of teenage girls in provocative poses and the language so widely used. Saying the "f-word" is one thing. Writing it in a Facebook post is another. I wonder why they don't seem concerned about a potential employer seeing or reading their stuff and what kind of an impression it might make. I wonder if they worry about their parents seeing their posts - though apparently not as they have not set any privacy settings and so I, a complete stranger can see all their stuff and so of course can their parents if indeed they are interested in looking.

I'm also intrigued by some of the friend requests I get on Facebook. I don't have the vaguest idea who these people are. That they are friends with someone I'm friends with, often overseas, means nothing to me. Their lives are in no way aligned with my own. I'm not interested in what they are making for dinner tonight or what they thought of the football match in some obscure English town. Today I got a friend request from someone who I still haven't been able to establish any connection to. I don't know who she is or who she is a friend to or how she found me in the first place. As I am wont to do, I clicked "ignore".