Face Off: Online Snooping Versus Stalking
Posted by: Amelia McDonell-Parry
Filed in:
news
1:30PM, Thursday February 19th 2009
According to a new poll, women are way more likely than men to “stalk” an ex online, with 62% of the 1700 people polled admitting to looking up a former love online. I totally believe that women use the Internet more often than men to garner information on a crush, look up the whereabouts of exes, and check out a former flame’s new significant other. In fact, Catherine and I were just discussing the fact that none of our recent dates seemed to have Googled us, which I kind of find…insulting. But I don’t think “looking up” an ex (or a crush or the competition) online is the same as “stalking.” After the jump, I break down the differences between just snoopin’ and totally stalking when it comes to online behavior.
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Alison Wonderland
wrote on February 19 2009 @ 01:40 pm: [report]
Nothing wrong with a little investigation. Full on stalking, no. But if a potential employer can Google you then you can certainly Google a prospective flame. And theres nothing wrong with assuring yourself your ex is the same #&@$% he was when you broke-up with him. Even if he is still going out with that skank he cheated on you with. She ugly and he sucks to they should be together anyway. You’re better off.
anasca
wrote on February 19 2009 @ 02:01 pm: [report]
I’ve never gone beyond the innocence of a little background check. However, I stopped googling prospects after I found out that one of the guys was gay (or was he? still not sure but the video was… interesting) and the other guy was weirdly connected to eric clapton. I felt creepy and didn’t want to admit that I knew these things about them but whenever we hung out… I just thought “Please explain this to me!”
Now I try to leave the internet out of my relationships because whenever it gets involved things become unnecessarily confusing and irritating.
The Nomad
wrote on February 19 2009 @ 03:56 pm: [report]
While I was making the bf breakfast one day, he was playing on my laptop. Out of nowhere I hear “You googled me?” My only response was “Yeah. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve also googled myself.” Apparently neither one of us is an ax murderer
writergirl
wrote on February 19 2009 @ 04:11 pm: [report]
You know….It shocked the heck out of me when my now-husband told me early in our relationship that he had Googled *me* and had a question relating to the Governor’s Task Force I had been listed on….
Do you know it never occured to me to Google him in return?Duh-huh!
Not until after we were married because I was bored one night while he was out of town did I Google him. The results were so insepidly dry and boring, I’m glad I hadn’t—I might not have married him!
Ultraviolet
wrote on February 19 2009 @ 04:56 pm: [report]
The only ex that I would have any interest in finding out about has one of the most generic names ever and also shares the same name as a writer for our city paper. So, yeah, completely out of luck on that one. Not to say that I haven’t tried!
theothergyllenhaal
wrote on February 19 2009 @ 05:07 pm: [report]
Sifting through someone else’s e-mail is 10 kinds of creepy, no matter how long you do it.
Amelia
wrote on February 19 2009 @ 05:15 pm: [report]
@theothergyllenhaal Oh phooey, Saint Gyllenhaal.
heathabee
wrote on February 19 2009 @ 06:54 pm: [report]
yeah the email thing is definitely a boundary-crosser in my book,
but everything else was legit (and hilarious).
plus, being in college…this is actually relevant. Facebook is a sickeningly large part of life. It’s to the point where I will be taking notes in class, and talking to someone sitting two seats away from me on fb chat…
while simultaneously flirting with a guy on fb chat that I met at a party the previous weekend.
crosenyc
wrote on February 19 2009 @ 07:17 pm: [report]
As an older woman, I am continually astonished by what you can find out through Google. And I’m relieved to find that I’m just nosy, and not a stalker. I wouldn’t do the e-mail thing, myself, but it is how one of my young cousins found out her husband was cheating on her.