Misuse of Technology

Yesterday I blogged about technology allowing for certain boundaries to be crossed and a disruption of work/life balance.
Today, I wanted to further that conversation about the misuse of technology in office culture.

Another way that technology has allowed individuals to cross boundaries in their professional and personal lives is with online content. Things that are posted on one's facebook page, for example, can be viewed on google. Pictures, youtube videos, searches, facebook, twitter, online blogs, and news articles from any point in time can all be discovered simply by googling a person's name. No longer can anyone merely go to work and conduct themselves in a particular manner in that environment and then entirely separate their personal life, where they might conduct themselves differently. If you enjoy partying, chancers are your employer has found out about it, and might judge you based on this information, despite the way you conduct yourself during office hours.

This is also the way, as I have mentioned before, that we treat our politicians and celebrities. They no longer just do their job, they must behave upstandingly in the public eye at all times, because we are interested in their personal lives.

Technology is a great advantage and the Internet has a wealth of information, but it is often misused. It is not acceptable for an employer to make a decision about you with personal and private information; they ought only be able to pass judgement given what they know about you professionally and in the realm of the work that you do. Many employers are even asking for online passwords, which has been equated with "asking for the keys to your house."

What do you think about employers using the Internet to find out about candidates or current employees?

--Megan