Blogocentric Formulations

An $80,000 Facebook Update & Don Jon

PROMPT: Provide your thoughts/opinions on a newspaper/magazine article or a radio/television news story from the past week.


The article that caught my attention today was Slate's article titled, Teen's Facebook Post Costs Her Dad $80,000. Oops.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/02/28/dana_snay_s_facebook_post_cost_8...

This article caught my attention for two reasons. First, it's about the importance of abiding by the terms of a settlement agreement. And second, it's about realizing that when you post on social media sites, you are posting for an audience (not all of whom are trustworthy and well-intentioned).

Long story short, a teenager posted on Facebook about the fact that her father won a lawsuit against his former employer for age discrimination. The post itself was meant to be humorous; she wrote, "Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT." The problem is, as part of her father's $80,000 award from the suit against Gulliver Preparatory School, the settlement required complete confidentiality about its specific terms and even its existence at all. (That's not an unusual request of a settlement agreement, by the way. "Hey, we'll pay you, but only if we all agree to sweep this under the rug and keep quiet.") Ultimately, the court ruled that Mr. Snay's daughter's post was a violation of the terms of the settlement agreement and they tossed out his entire award from the suit.

People really need to understand the ins and outs of the legal documents they sign. If they don't understand on their own, it's their attorney's job to explain it in a way that makes sense to them. Because once the document is signed and the terms are agreed upon, there's no room for, "Oops, I didn't understand that part of it." You run a real risk of getting into trouble or even having a decision reversed or voided if you violate the terms of an agreement, especially a settlement agreement where the other party is likely disgruntled and all to happy to point out a flaw that gives them a significant material advantage.

The other issue this article brings up, and arguably the more important one for everyday life, is recognizing that the stuff you post on social media does have an audience. I think there's a very real danger to the kids and teenagers of today, who often post things on social media without a second thought. Perhaps they've been raised with a certain perception of a lack of privacy, or are just acclimating to the way their generation communicates, but we've seen this issue rear its ugly head time and again, whether we're talking about risque photos being sent around, cyber-stalking, or posting opinions and comments that get you fired, prevent you from being hired, etc. This settlement issue is just another example of a kid who didn't realize that the things she posts online *are* seen by other people and have a real world impact; they're not just words spoken into an online vacuum that disappear once they're posted. It's remarkable how much a few seconds of poor judgement on a social media can cost someone. In this case, it cost them eighty grand.

If it's true that we learn more from mistakes than we do from successes, the two things we should learn from this girl's mistake are (1) don't violate the terms of a settlement agreement, even if it's just talking about it, and (2) don't post stuff on social media that you don't want everybody to see. You may *think* your privacy settings are secure, but there's always a way for people to find what you put out there, and there's no guarantee that what you say as a joke or a prank will be seen by the reader as such.

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PROMPT: In honor of the Oscars tonight, talk about your favorite movie from last year (2013).

DON JON
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2229499/

I'll admit that I hate being asked to pick my "favorite" or "worst" anything. I'm the kind of person who always feels like he can't ever just pick one and that there are always alternate choices and substitutions to be made. So I'm prefacing this blog post by saying that other movies (for reasons varying from "best quality movie" to "most entertaining subject matter") from last year that were in the running for this blog post included AMERICAN HUSTLE

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1800241

, NOW YOU SEE ME

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1670345

, FRUITVALE STATION

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2334649

, and THE SPECTACULAR NOW

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1714206

. I know NOW YOU SEE ME is a bit of an outlier in that group, but as I told my wife when I insisted on seeing it in the theater, "It's a heist movie with magic tricks in it. How is that not the best idea for a movie ever?"

My pick for favorite movie of the year, though, would have to be DON JON. I know it's not for everybody... and the TV spots make it seem like an innocent romantic comedy (although anyone who's seen the full trailer should recognize that it's not). More than one friend has seen this on "date night" with his significant other only to be told about ten minutes in, "Oh, this is not at all what I thought this would be like." Yes, it's a movie about a porn addiction. And yes, that subject matter brings with it certain... scenes that aren't strictly date-movie-friendly.

If you can get past the nudity and language on the surface, though, it's a really powerful movie about someone who has replaced real relationships in his life with imaginary fantasies, to the point where no real relationship can satisfy him because they never live up to the ideal he has in his head. I think there are a lot of people that can relate to his plight; some to his exact fixation with porn, and others with the general idea that expectations of perfection ruin an otherwise satisfying and fulfilling - yet flawed - reality. I also love the fact that Scarlett Johansson's character is basically just like Joseph Gordon-Levitt's, and although she looks down on him for his addiction to his porn, she's just as guilty as he is of expecting a real partner to live up to some fantasy ideal (albeit in a very different way).

The movie was also Joseph Gordon-Levitt's debut as a writer/director, and I think he created a fascinating and entertaining relationship movie that - while it's not for everyone - is a really savvy, insightful commentary on addiction and unrealistic expectations. Here's a link to the trailer, for those of you who haven't seen it. It's also one of my favorite trailers from last year: