Perpetual issues in the digital era... Just a thought

I am surprised and to some degrees frightened - increasingly - as to how the digital medium/ business Facebook has become such an inescapable part of life particularly in the contemporary digital era... What is problematic is that the issue lies not only in the 'now,' but also in the past and the future. 

I came across this article that was just posted on msnbc.com

"When you don't want to be Facebook friends: Connecting with your past can bring up those old, uncomfortable feelings."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27775484

Just seeing the issues that arise currently with Facebook, a digital medium that seems to be embedded in almost every facet of life (social, political, and even educational in a sense that it is being discussed so immensely in media/ ethics educational forums) ... I am a bit apprehensive as to what may be ahead in the future. With all the personal histories/ records now in possession of the digital archive, what is one's life going to be like in a couple years, or in a decade or so? how are our lives being shaped, and what will they have become? the events of the now - of the present become a past that is recorded and remembered quite literally in a digital medium. (all the records of Facebook) How do we view ourselves as an individual who is helplessly trapped in this mediated world? with all the present that becomes a past - that then follows us in the future - the perpetual effects of a digital medium on our personal life?

This seemed far too relevant to overlook

I know that technically we are not doing blog posts this week, but this New York Times article seemed all too fitting with the role of surveillance and technology in 21st century life. Unlike much of the stories referenced in Levin's article, which seems to focus most on the downside of technology's omnipresence, this article discusses how surveillance actually proved the innocence of a murder suspect.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/nyregion/19metrocard.html?_r=1&hp

Thoughts?