Google Me Baby

By: Ayana Bryant-Weekes

“Have you ever Googled yourself?”

I was asked that question recently and truth be told, I hadn’t Googled myself since I was a preteen. The last I knew of myself on Google was for a swim meet in Washington DC that I never went to and a mention in my mother’s professional biography as her daughter so I wasn’t abreast to what may have been added to my search results. Well, after I was asked, I typed my name into the Google search box and was mortified. Not the same type of mortified like when I was 13 and only typed my first name into the search box to find that I shared my name with a porn star, but mortified to see that the very first two search results came from my old Ask.fm account (that I forgot I had and is now deactivated).

Fortunately for me nothing I actually said was inappropriate but the questions I answered were off the wall (to keep things PG lets just say I got all the questions people wanted to know based on my “good girl appearance").  I immediately deactivated the account. For me, Ask.fm, The Facebook Honesty Box and the rest of those anonymous question apps were just something to do when I couldn’t sleep at 3am or had, literally, nothing else to do. Always anticipating the type of questions I would get, I was never afraid to answer because I wasn’t hiding anything (I pride myself on being an open book) and I knew to never divulge too much information.  

Unfortunately, though the account is deleted and can’t be accessed, the first two results in my search listings are still from that Ask.fm page and THEN my articles and business information is listed after. It may seem harmless since it was a long time ago but the person who brought it up to me was an employer. That means he actually Googled me. My mind immediately went back to those college and career prep seminars we had to go to in High School. They warned us against the things we participated in on the Internet because they would never go away and true enough; here I am at 22 trying to erase something I don’t even do anymore. 

 The Bible talks about the reputation of a Christ follower in 1 Peter 2:11-12: Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.  (MSG)

Now, I’m not one to say don’t use social media and other modern sources of entertainment but I do urge discretion. I know several Youth groups that use anonymous pages so that young people can ask tough questions freely, and if you must use these types of pages personally, try not to put your real name in them and be careful of what you say. It’s all about professionalism and it will be a terrible thing to allow a youthful indulgence to hinder your professional life or your Christ-like reputation.

Meanwhile, live in such a way that you are a credit to the Message of Christ. Let nothing in your conduct hang on whether I come or not. Your conduct must be the same whether I show up to see things for myself or hear of it from a distance. Stand united, singular in vision, contending for people’s trust in the Message, the good news, not flinching or dodging in the slightest before the opposition Philippians 1:27 (MSG)

<3 ABW