Going to a job interview a couple decades back was a lot different. The recruiter surely would have gathered information on you, but that would be limited to your resume and your references. Today, all that is a different story. When you get called back to come in for a second or third interview for that dream job, odds are that the recruiter came in knowing more about you than you would hope. We’re the generation that grew up with the Internet, meaning that we were dumb teenagers with Internet, meaning that there’s plenty of our mistakes scattered around the web. We all have been tagged in that extremely unflattering photo on Facebook. The photo we forgot about but our friend insisted on putting up because “it would be too funny NOT to post”. All it takes is one misunderstanding of Facebook’s privacy settings and your dream job goes down the toilet. That’s the time we live in. A time where how you document your fun can play a huge role later on in life. There’s a saying on the Internet that goes: “you can’t delete anything from the Internet”. No matter how hard you try to delete those embarrassing tweets, it’s hard to delete all the people that retweeted it. It’s hard to explain to a possible soulmate why your Foursquare has so many “check in’s” to gentlemen clubs. There’s no doubt that how we make use of the Internet can have an adverse affect on our careers (and love life), but there’s ways we can help our own cause. We all make mistakes, and although I’m sure none of us are guilty of anything that can drastically hurt our chances at a great future, there’s ways we can improve the odds. As far as getting your career started, the Internet can be your best friend. Taking advantage and making full use of LinkedIn can be pivotal in distancing yourself from the competition. It’s a great way to connect to people you’d otherwise never meet and to increase your chances at landing that job interview. You can also get comfortable with the Internet, because as the tide turns, more and more companies are looking for employees with social media experience. Although the Internet can be your best friend, it’s best to play it safe and be skeptical of the stuff that we post for the public to see. Just as easily as one aspect of the internet can get us called in for an interview, another part of it can be the reason we blow it. Figuring out how to successfully use the Internet as a helpful tool instead of a hurtful one can lead to a better future, because we all know there is no future without the Internet. When our future kids Google our name, it is probably best that only things that we approve of make it on there, and we can start by being more productive today.

Now before I get started, let the record show that this isn’t a “changing of the tide” complaint blog, but rather more of an observation. I’m not here to complain about how people prefer to tweet about all the fun they are having instead of living in the moment, or how people find it necessary to snap a thousand photos of their lunch before eating. I’m not here to complain about those people because at the end of the day, I have been that person at one time or another. I can’t pretend to think those people ruined social interactions because as much as I am a victim, I am also a perpetrator of the “heinous” social crime. I’ve sometimes caught myself at dinner or at a party glancing at my phone. Whether only a split second to check on my fantasy football teams or to tweet about how much of a good time I’m having, at that moment I’m the guy that bloggers feel is ruining a generation. Don’t believe me? A quick Google search of “social interactions + phones” will bring up plenty articles sharing the same thought: get off your phone and have fun! But what if I make the case for the poor guy who unknowingly uses his phone in situations where it’s considered rude? What if that guy is so used to being on his phone 23 hours a day, that the 1 hour he isn’t supposed to be on it he “accidentally” opens up Twitter or Facebook? It’s tough to say “don’t be that guy” when we live in a smartphone era. Up until my first iPhone, I never had instant access to internet away from home. Now I cherish it, and although it means I might have missed you telling me about your day, odds are I can just go to your twitter and read about it instead. Although this doesn’t excuse or validate the rude behaviors of some, I feel it would be hypocrisy for me to rant negatively about something I myself do. With that being said, I am aware of it and whenever I do catch myself in the act, I stop. This isn’t the same case for everyone. I know plenty of folks who spend entire outings on their phones, seemingly oblivious to the potential fun around them. Now when I go out with a group of friends, the first couple hours of the night are spent taking pictures. Most of the time I opt out and volunteer to take the group photo (although in reality I’m just scared people will notice I’m wearing the same shirt from my last Instagram post). After the photos comes the conversation, which always starts off fluid because there’s always some catching up to be done, but then quickly dulls. Soon as the awkward silence hits, everyone is inadvertently back on their phones. They’re checking how many likes that group photo I insisted on not being in got or checking if the tweet they posted about “how nice the place is” got any retweets. I can’t complain or ask them to stop, because as I go to reach for my phone I realize it has been in my hand the whole time.

The Internet has come a long way, hasn’t it? It’s gone from being a luxury in its early days to now being a necessity for almost all ages. You need it to, at the most basic levels, keep up with work emails (although odds are your involvement with the internet at work stretches far beyond ‘to’s’ and ‘from’s’). If you’re in school, you will need the Internet for almost everything including for email updates from the school (which kept me up-to-date on closures during our recent bout with Hurricane Sandy), blackboard to keep up with professor updates, and even to do required homework or readings. I grew up with the Internet, which isn’t to say I’ve had it since I was born, but rather it has changed and grown as much as I have in the last 20 years. All the way up to high school the Internet was only a suggested tool for research projects and papers. Most of the time I spent on the Internet was wasted away chatting with friends and playing games that took what felt like centuries to load. Now at the college level I find my time spent on the Internet is almost split in half between productivity and time wasted. The Internet has managed to help many students throughout college, but has also been the biggest factor in student procrastination. But that’s just the Internet’s MO. Loved and hated simultaneously all over the world, especially by me. Not a day passes by where I don’t praise the internet, but that same day will involve me denouncing it for its ‘endless power’. A love/hate story that has been going on for a couple of years now, and doesn’t look like it’s letting up any time soon.