Cathryn Sloane And Silly Things I Wont Admit To Saying

After watching the controversy last week on the Cathryn Sloane post on NextGen Journal I keep thinking one thought:

“Thank God when I was 25-years-old my every immature or arrogant thing I said or did was not recorded on the internet”

If you are not familiar with the issue to which I refer, the 25-year-old writer penned a post about “Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25“.

Since November 2011 she has written several articles for the online information portal.  None of her posts has had more than five comments until this one topped 600 comments due to the up-roar she caused.  (Note, her post with the 5 comments was the journalistic ground-breaking piece on “Why Hooking Up In College Will Not Disappear“).

Five comments to over 600 in one post is a big jump for any blogger.  But from what I have seen the writer has been blind-sided by how her words impacted people.  She locked her Twitter account and has not commented on fire-storm (if she has, I did not see it).

I am sure that Ms. Sloane will not stumble upon my blog post.  But others might read this, and I have three pieces of advice:

1.  Come out and address the issue.  We all make mistakes.  Own it.  OR… if you do not think you made a mistake… defend yourself.  Hiding never solves problems.

2.  Learn from it, and teach others.  No matter which way you view this situation, we all learn throughout life, and this one might be a pivot moment for your future.

3.  When you turn 45 do not ever, ever, ever say nasty things about the generations that follow you…. Especially if they seem to believe they know everything, are living in a new crazy would and claim you do not understand.  Smile and say… “been there”.

I go back to thinking how lucky I was to not have the internet around when I was 25-years-old.   I said silly things, arrogant stuff, and youthful burps that I will choose to not admit to at this point.

Have A Great Day

thom singer

Tags:  inspiration, internet, journal, linkedin, myspace

About Thom Singer

Thom Singer is known as “The Conference Catalyst“. He works with meeting planners and conference organizers to set the tone for a meeting. His presentations educate, inspire and motivate attendees to engage deeper in the event and make meaningful connections. http://www.conferencecatalyst.com