The generation growing up is the first to have their entire lives digitized and cataloged in a lossless form. The ease at which information is recorded, documented, and searchable will only increase – we may be held accountable for all our actions, all of the time, for eternity.
We will not solve this problem by blocking content or pretending that it is private. Emails seem private but can be blasted into the public realm so easily. Classroom conversations seem private until a participant recites the discussion (or a manipulated version of it) to their parents or media.
I believe we are going to solve this issue through a change in our society. We will move to a place of greater understanding and empathy and realize that people can change their views. We will become less reactive and judgmental to what someone said in the past and understand that they can grow and change. (if there was a video of all the dumb things I have said or done…)
As we move in this direction, we need to educate our students of the need for thoughtfulness and caution as they spill themselves into the digital and non-digital world. We can do this best through leveraging the public realm in a semi-controlled, facilitated environment of a classroom.