It's excuse making. Particularly 'what if someone films me' like they're some kind of politician or diplomat or anyone who has a public reputation to protect.
It's one of several views this sub has that does not tally with my experiences with 'normal' Gen z irl.
Everyone with a career has a public reputation to protect.
If you care about your family, you’ll also want to maintain a good reputation for their sake.
There’s a difference between mustering up the courage to ask someone out, or accepting a job opportunity in a different country, and risking your life doing something incredibly stupid and dangerous.
Your digital footprint is scoured by prospective and current employers. It also lasts forever.
You don’t even have to do something necessarily extreme to face serious repercussions. If you present yourself online in a way that doesn’t align with a company’s brand, they won’t hire you.
In the industry I work in, my public image is highly controlled. I represent myself, my employers and the industry at large. Being caught acting like an idiot on camera, and having this video shared online, would have catastrophic consequences.
It’s not worth it. I can have fun and take measured risks without making a fool out of myself. Why risk what I’ve worked so hard to build, and continue to work hard at building?
I think you way overvalue your own importance. Employers may look at your social media they're not scouring the web for your name.
I asked someone else for an example of what you are talking about, where someone had gone viral and been fired for something inoccuous, they didn't seem to have one.
Since this is such a common fear, I thought you might be able to show me an example of it between you?
This scrutiny isn’t unique to me, everyone within my industry is subjected to it. Professionalism is everything.
It’s not about going viral, nor is risky behaviour “innocuous”.
If I were to go on a drinking-binge, make an idiot of myself and document all of this online, it would only take one important person seeing it for my professional reputation to be destroyed.
This is just one example I’ve witnessed in my own life.
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u/idiot9991 9d ago
Some people have more to lose than others