Let this be a cautionary tale to all you Yummies out there. One woman thought there was everything to know about her mom -- until she 'googled' her.
Not only did Melissa T. Shultz discover that her mother led a rich online life in counterpoint to her real life, she was something of a double agent, posting reviews, entering competitions, and offering up her opinions on everything under the virtual sun.
How could this be my mother, wondered Shultz . Was this playful Facebook profile photo really the same woman who "makes chicken soup and tells me how to get stains out of tablecloths"?
But then came the real bomb. Her mother was registered on a dating site, under the username, 'Gone with the Wind'. She's 76. There she was, in living color, looking for "a date, a friend, an activity partner".
Shultz was flummoxed. Why didn't she tell me? Was this version of her mother a novelty or had this persona been there all along, and her daughter never thought to ask.
And incidentally, who are those Internet parental controls really for: the parent or the kid with the nosy parent? Or the parent with a nosy kid, even? As time goes on, and our roots with social media deepen, will we share more or less with strangers than so-called loved ones? Where does the inner circle start and the world at large begin?
Shultz plans to ask her mother, right after she 'friends' her on Facebook.
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