[Jan1212]

I definitely don't want to be a stalker, am I or would this be considered creepy? Sometimes it feels so weird but I m so curious where they are right now in their lives. But I search them a few times a month, it is excessive and not to keep contact either. It started when I was dating this person, then I searched and found his facebook etc. and also my ex's GF friended me, she had a pic of her and my exBF. and I searched her and found her on twitter, and my ex's blog. I keep revisiting it to read, they are happy. The sites are public. Then I searched my husbands friends and ex, who's in marketing and is always on tv shows anyway so she's public.

I searched myself and I can find my older blogs, everything I do is private now. Does anyone else search people, or is this really odd?

[elin95]

It is not weird at all, don 't worry! you are just interested in other people and that is fine. I do this too :P

[~Christina]

I googly myself often , just to see how much of "me" is available for view on line

[lizardlady]

Originally Posted by ~Christina

I googly myself often , just to see how much of "me" is available for view on line

Christina, I've been told that googling yourself once a month is a good way to monitor for identity theft.

[~Christina]

Originally Posted by lizardlady

Christina, I've been told that googling yourself once a month is a good way to monitor for identity theft.

Yes it is

I just wrote a thread about this. I do the same thing lol you aren't alone.

[Ripose]

I Google everyone I know!

Usually not many results on anyone though.

[Slamjammer]

Every so often an old friend, classmate or Army buddy will come to mind, and I will Google them or search FB to satisfy my curiosity. It's a good feeling to find someone from your past, and see they are still around and doing well. On the other hand, I sometimes find an obituary. When that happens I generally spend a few moments thinking about the times we shared together. It's very sad.

[ifst5]

If it just stems from harmless curiosity i wouldn't worry about it...however you mention that you're doing an amount of searching that's 'excessive.' Only you know can know what's comfortable for you and what isn't so i would maybe find a way of blocking the sites. I would however continue keeping a private blog so that you have an outlet for these difficult feelings and a good substitute for more unhealthy internet activity. Hope this helps.

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by Jan1212

I definitely don't want to be a stalker, am I or would this be considered creepy? Sometimes it feels so weird but I m so curious where they are right now in their lives. But I search them a few times a month, it is excessive and not to keep contact either. It started when I was dating this person, then I searched and found his facebook etc. and also my ex's GF friended me, she had a pic of her and my exBF. and I searched her and found her on twitter, and my ex's blog. I keep revisiting it to read, they are happy. The sites are public. Then I searched my husbands friends and ex, who's in marketing and is always on tv shows anyway so she's public.

I searched myself and I can find my older blogs, everything I do is private now. Does anyone else search people, or is this really odd?

I think that everyone does it. I do. Just not as frequently. Clearly the information is public, you are not creepy, and you are not on your way towards stalking anyone. You are simply doing a completely normal activity a tad too often.

I am thinking that when you discard the notions of creepiness and stalking, your frequency of googling folks would go down automatically, without conscious interventions. Another idea for you (this is great tip re googling yourself to catch identify theft) is to CALENDAR googling yourself and others once a month. By putting it on your calendar you would acknowledge that the activity is normal and even helpful (in the case of googling yourself). Then there would be no forbidden fruit (currently, by thinking that you are overdoing it, you are forbidding yourself this activity in a subconscious sort of way, which may raise its appeal for you) and everything would be out in the open and just business as usual.

Thanks for opening the thread - I am sure I am not the only person to learn about identify theft prevention from your thread.

[CaptainChaos79]

I would say that if you are bothered by this behavior then you should take a good close look at it. Maybe what you really wish you could do is stay in contact with these people from your past that you once cared for very much but you don't have the courage to take the first steps toward communication because you don't know how they feel? Just a thought. Bottom line, any behavior that bothers you probably deserves a closer look to make sure your motivations are pure because there is a reason you are bothered. Maybe you are trying to tell yourself something whether its good or not so good