Whether What's Private is Becoming Public

What's private and what's public? With the digital age and the speed of passing on information it's difficult to keep anything in the private realm. The ubiquitous paper trail is now a pathway created on the internet and available to anyone wise enough to figure out how to avail themselves of information.

I remember my first five year diary. It came with a lock and key, but you didn't need safecracking skills to pry open the diary. I wrote a note on the first page addressed to anyone reading that page—"Don't Read On. This diary is private." Even with that note—penned in huge purple balloon letters on the first page, I never truly felt comfortable. To my ten year old mind a slip of the pen could result in a secret being read and spread. When I wasn't writing, I stored the diary under my mattress.

When my Aunt Rose gave me the diary I asked her the proper form of address. We had just studied informal letters in school. "Just write, Dear Diary," she said. And I did.

Dear Diary, I am playing Cinderella in the school play. Joyce is Ashes and Brian is the prince.

Dear Diary, I lost my skate key.

Dear Diary, My grandmother made mustard plasters for the next door neighbor.

I wonder if my grandmother knew that when Lincoln was assasinated the first doctor on the scene applied a mustard plaster to Lincoln's chest?

Recently the question —asked within government circles:

With more information online— the question —how public should our private information be?

Social Media groups keep crossing the line.