Exposed on the Internet
When people talk about how technology is bad, they're almost always talking about how there's good-for-nothing information on the net, or how people stop talking face to face because they facebook instead. But I'm more scared by continuous access we provide to our daily doings online. But I'm scared of twitter instead.
Privacy on the net
A growing number of people are now posting everything about themselves in facebook status updates and twitter updates. Including where you are. And if people know where you are, it also means they know where you're not... at home!
Don't waste time leaving the lights on
Whenever my family heads out on any vacation, we always leave some lights on. It makes sure that people don't see an empty home ripe for robbing.
We don't tell anyone either, except a neighbour (who we completely trust) so that they can check in one in a while. Other people stop their subscriptions to any magazines or newspapers so that there isn't a pile of newspapers out front to show that no one is inside to collect them.
We take all these precautions and all it takes is for someone to check twitter and see the words "With my family catching the sunset in the Philippines!" or "Cairo is really hot..." and they know that you're out.
GPS phones make it worse
Did you know you can update twitter and facebook from phones now? And if you choose to, they'll even include your location!
Check out PleaseRobMe.com and see how many people have that option enabled. Here's a quote from their website.
The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you’re definitely not… home. So here we are; on one end we’re leaving lights on when we’re going on a holiday, and on the other we’re telling everybody on the Internet we’re not home.
It gets even worse if you have “friends” who want to colonize your house. That means they have to enter your address, to tell everyone where they are. Your address... on the Internet... Now you know what to do when people reach for their phone as soon as they enter your home. That’s right, slap them across the face.
- PleaseRobMe.com
Yes people, advertise that you're not home.
But it's not just that: Everything on the internet stays there
Make a post about how you hate work. Or what you did on your weekend. Or maybe it's your friend who makes that post and tags you in a compromising photo. Like one that shows you going rock climbing when you told your boss you were sick with the flu.
Whatever is posted on the internet will get up there and stay there. And your employer may very well find it if they just google your name. Do you know that some companies now force you to add your boss to your facebook profile? They want to make sure you're not hurting the image of the company.
And if they do find out and you plan to change jobs? The new company you apply at may very well do a google search on you too. You know, just to make sure you're not a convicted criminal or anything. But instead that embarrassing blogpost comes up about the time you complained about your company and told all your friends not to buy their products. And the new company goes, "I need a team player, not a whiner", and they don't hire you.
Maybe I'm just being paranoid
I could be paranoid. It wouldn't be the first time. I'm usually very paranoid about my privacy. So please don't EVER post anything that resembles my address online.
Speaking Plain English vs. Using Jargon
What if people forgot about your words?
I always heard people speak using big words. No, wait, that's not true. I always heard about people who speak using big words.
Growing up, I never heard it much myself. Rather, I grew up reading storybooks. Good old fiction. Whether it was mystery or horror, fantasy or comedy, it was all good to me. When I ran out of books, I'd even read magazines (though of course they weren't as much fun). I opened a few books that were non-fiction as well. Every time, the book pulled me in. I forgot about the words. Want to know why? It's coz they wrote in Plain English.
Everybody uses Plain English... right?
So I grew up thinking that everybody used Plain English. Explaining things using simple words so that people would already understand the words and could now concentrate on understanding your message instead.
The only ones that didn't were people who wanted to sound smart. After all, don't you sound smart when you start saying words that have 10 syllables?
Jargon
Then I found out about Jargon. It turns out that in every field and in every industry, they have things that would be very complicated to explain but happen all the time. So special words were made up to refer to them easily. Instead of calling something "a super tiny sensor that's made to detect sudden changes in movement up to 5 times of gravity", an engineer could just call it "a 5G accelerometer". Shorter. Simpler. Not a bad thing at all. Not until you put 20 words of Jargon one after another. Then it becomes a LOT harder to understand.
Which should we use?
It took me a long time to understand that for some people, it's not that they don't want to use Plain English. They can't. They simply don't know how to because they haven't been trained for it and have never had to do it in their lives. Every time they've been asked to present any information, nobody has taught them to use Plain English.
When I was taking my degree, I joined my university's debate club. I had a great chance to hear people present complicated facts and arguments in a way that the audience could understand. I heard people present these things day in and day out for 4 years.
Mistakes
It quickly became clear to me that most people don't know how to keep it simple. The usual mistakes people make?
1. They assume the people listening know as much as they do.
They immediately start talking and assume that the audience know the same things that they have read and studied about. You'll start hearing acronyms like UNCHR, FDI, ASEAN+3 and things like junta (pronounced hunta), naming and shaming, floating currencies and locus standi.
What?!
Take a few moments. Say what you mean. Don't put fancy terms out there if people might not know them. You only use Jargon when people are ALL from the same background.
2. They say everything else about the issue except the issue itself.
You know who they are. The people that ramble on and on and on while you're wondering what they're telling you about. You heard them talk about the current global recession and the potential for bio-engineered plants in 3rd world countries, but what does that have to do with hiring nurses from the Philippines?
If you want to say something, say it. You don't have to explain it.
3. They assume people can read minds and can get what they mean.
Let's say that I tell you that we should reward green companies to help save the environment. And I stop there. You could understand it in many different ways.
What kind of reward do I mean? Tax subsidies? Exclusive government contracts?
What does green mean? Not burning anything? Filtering their smoke? Donating to organizations that help the environment?
By leaving it at that, it becomes very vague and each person understands it his own way (if he even understands it at all). So say exactly what you mean.
Not too short, not too long
So on the one hand, you have to keep it short. Say exactly what you mean and nothing else. On the other hand, if it's too short people might not understand what you mean. Right?
Wrong. People only don't understand when you use Jargon. So make it as short as possible while still using Plain English words. The same words that you grow up with and read in story books. The same words that you use while chatting with someone over drinks.
When you use this same simple language, it makes things easier. It frees his mind from spending time to understand the meaning of the word that you just said. Instead he can use that time to understand the meaning of your sentence and to imagine it in his head. He can see it, hear it, feel it.
When you can make people forget your words, you can make them remember your dreams.