by Bri Castellini
A few weeks ago on Twitter, I was having a conversation about branding and public personas with some fellow filmmakers, and one of them (a fantastic Canadian director named Brianne Nord-Stewart) made a joke that “my personal online presence is regulated by the notions of “am I okay with this living on forever?” & “do I care if my grandpa sees this?”” And it struck me how considerably less family friendly my online presence has become over the past few years.
When I first started out on the internet, in my wee pre-teen years, I was incredibly cautious about my public activities. I wouldn’t tell anyone my last name, wouldn’t reveal my home state let alone my city, and would sometimes even invent fake names for friends and places to keep myself “safe.” I got older and a little more bold[er], yet in college I was still chastising friends for swearing on camera for videos I intended to upload to YouTube. Because I’ve been online in the same few places so long, my entire family has access to my blogs, videos, and social media posts- Hi, family!- so I’ve always kept my digital identity cleanish.
This despite the fact that I’ve been swearing like an injured sailor since I was 12 years old. I used to play basketball with a boy at lunch where instead of talking we’d just swear at each other and giggle. For two years in a row in high school I put “stop swearing so much” as a New Years Resolution. It never stuck.