Context Collapse phobia
After listening to this week's voicethread, I realize I have severe context collapse phobia. As I mentioned in my comment on the thread, I go to great lengths to keep my FB worlds separate. I don't like overlap of my personal and professional digital networks. I like having them separate, but I think I did this even before the digital world made it easier for us to connect the two. It always seemed to me that people in my work setting were "over-sharers". I worked at FedEx Kinko's (nee Kinko's) for about 10 years, and not only did I feel my co-workers overshared, they become far too ensconced in one another's lives. They hung out together after work. They dated. They broke up (that was always fun!), cliques formed.... None of that was appealing to me. In addition to not wanting the inundation of work into personal or personal into work life, I was also a manager, and felt it would be inappropriate for me to engage with my co-workers in the manner in which they engaged with one another. I've found that often, people have difficulty separating their work and personal lives when issues arise.
In fact, my current supervisor sent me a Facebook friend request last week to my personal account. It really has placed me in an uncomfortable place. While I am certainly willing to befriend her on my professional account, I feel like friending her would be a breach of my personal space... It's a sticky wicket, for sure...
In fact, my current supervisor sent me a Facebook friend request last week to my personal account. It really has placed me in an uncomfortable place. While I am certainly willing to befriend her on my professional account, I feel like friending her would be a breach of my personal space... It's a sticky wicket, for sure...
Same here! I don't like my personal life overlap with my professional network circle. When i am kidding or making fun of my close friends, I don't want my colleagues or my students' parents think that I am a unprofessional teacher. They may infer that I am not respectful to my work and my students. I agree with you the collapse really a big deal in everyone's daily life ! Have to be very careful when post something to different groups of people.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a great point! When I was younger (18-23) I very rarely added my managers (and was careful about adding coworkers) to my Facebook. I felt more comfortable adding them to media sites such as LinkedIn or Pinterest.
ReplyDeleteBut once my work relationship was solidified and boundaries had been established, I had no problem adding my "work friends". But while I was teaching, I would never ever add parents or students on any social media apps.
Even though I never post anything I'd be embarrassed about, I'd rather the parents see me in the context of in the classroom and not online.