So many questions so often arise regarding the use of online social networks. Are we becoming more social or less by interacting on computers? Are we becoming an obsessive-compulsive nation by continually checking email, voicemail, and instant messenger away messages? Why do we feel we need to share so much information online? Perhaps instead of checking email obsessively, we out to focus on keeping our internet obsessed behaviors in check.

These questions arose for me after I finally agreed to join my friends in a virtual community. I had many to choose from, including MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, and WAYN. Though I chose to join MySpace and ended up pretty much addicted for the duration of my membership, I only lasted three days before I decided to delete my account.

So why did I delete it, you ask? To put it quite simply, my experience as a MySpace member was a real eye opener. I found myself engaging in behaviors I never expected of myself: I wasted my precious minutes “cyber-stalking” people, reading “about me” blurbs of people like Andrew (as I learned was his name), the particularly attractive trainer who works at my gym.

Of course, there's also the issue of authenticity in virtual communities. People may be putting false information about themselves online. But then again, maybe we're all lying – not telling the whole truth. Are we all fakes, making our lives out to be more insteresting than they actually are? As I see it, we all project some sort of fantasy online where we can be basically whatever we dream ourselves to be, and in the end, it’s really quite difficult to call someone’s bluff.

I found out that Andrew enjoys watching Comedy Central. I ignored phone calls to find new friends on MySpace, continually checked for new comments on my profile, and updated my profile with more information.

So why, you ask, did I last only three days on MySpace? In spite of my criticisms of of the site, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent pretending I was Nancy Drew and practicing my stream of consciousness writing. Inadvertently, however, I put my career in jeopardy; because of that, I knew it was time to stop.

I received a “friend request” from one of my students – a 17 year old male. As a high school teacher this could have been a disaster. There were things on my profile that would have damaged my reputation and would have reflected very poorly on me as a professional.

I have always kept my professional life professional and my social life private. The potential of those two worlds meshing into one was, to say the least, pretty scary.

Indeed, I am entitled to a social life. However, I feel that my freedom is being limited – particularly my right to free speech. Then again, why would I want to put something on the Internet for the entire world to see? Would I really want to put embarrassing material up? Just because we have the right to say basically anything doesn't necessarily mean with should exercise that right without discretion.

In my view, people take too many liberties with the Internet and do not think through the potential repercussions of their comments, profiles, blogs, etc. The truth is that no one knows who is looking at their profiles, and no one can control who looks at them. And, of course, some people who check out other people's profiles may not necessarily have the best intentions.

For those of you who still go on MySpace and other social networks, here are a few tips to keep yourselves more safe: Don’t put a close-up picture of yourself on your profile, put up a picture of your pet or something else that your friends would understand as being representative of you. Also, think of a cute, clever MySpace name, and be aware that something like lilHoBag420 is never going to give off a good impression. In addition, don’t reveal the exact location of your residence; instead, you might just use the name of the nearest big city. Finally, you might want to put restrictions on people who can view your profile, and perhaps somewhat obviously, don’t reveal x-rated information in your ‘about me’ blurb.

To use the words of Shakespeare's Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth…than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” We’re very clearly entering unchartered territory with all of the social outlets on the Internet. Though exploring this territory can be fun and exciting, we do not have well-established rules and regulations to guide our behaviors yet. Sure: For some of us it's kind of liberating to share everything with everybody. But we have to keep in mind that we don't know how the information we reveal will be used against us. To be smart and be safe, the best thing to understand is that on the Internet, there really is no such thing as “my” space.

By Allison Hoyt