The Paparazzi of the Future: Your Future Workers

Remember when taking pictures or video used to be used for vacations or for special events? We used to carry our camera when we had to document something we’d like to remember the rest of our life such as when on vacation.

Years ago, Hollywood stars were enigmas and their private lives were off limits. We had one magazine called PEOPLE that carefully crafted stories of their”perfect” lives. Today, besides the paparazzi who expose every dirty secret of the stars, we have reality TV shows where individuals like Scott Biao (Chachi on "Happy Days) and Paula Abdul, who work out their personal problems in front of a camera. If you watch these shows, you’re wondering, who would ever choose to air their dirty laundry like these stars are doing for the world to see and assess?

Unfortunately, it has caught on and everyone is acting like a star! Spend some time on YouTube or MySpace and you’ll be more than shocked with the secrets that are being revealed by our youth.

Today’s young person has grown up with the mega stars of our times every where they turn... It’s no wonder that the majority of teens now just want to be famous. They don’t care how they do it, they just want it. And now, they don’t just want it, they’re acting the part. Gone are the days that you have to ask someone else to take your picture for your scrap book. Today, our young people stretch out their arms, and smile for the camera or video, and document every stage of their young lives and quickly post them in time for their circle of friends to see and assess. Sound familiar?

But has anyone asked how this is affecting our young people? Has anyone stopped to think about what sort of workers that will be entering our workplace in a few years? Has anyone stopped to think about the actions that our youth is taking as a result of growing up in a Paparazzi Society?

What will happen when they are asked to start off at a company as a receptionist, or in the mailroom? What will happen when they’re not followed around 24/7 by the flash of the camera and able to post their whereabouts on the net for all to see? How will they respond when upper management tells them that some information is private and that they’re being asked to sign a confidentiality clause? Will they be able to do it? Will they need to seek some sort of outside gratification to get the attention they’ve had their whole lives? Will they be able to survive in a corporate environment where the team is more important than the individual? How will managers deal with these workers who are addicted to their own self induced paparazzi and ego that gets a buzz every time someone comments on their personal sites?

Considering what is happening in the blog world now, and how workers are being fired for blogging about inside information, I see a new trend that is causing problems that can potentially escalate out of control. It’s not just the blogs that will be critiqued; it’s the pictures and the video, of our future workers who will be secretly taping their lives on the job... in YOUR offices!

It appears that privacy will soon be a thing of the past… not just for celebrities, but for the average, conservative, and mild mannered person who does a good job for their company and who goes home to care for their children. If they’re not documenting their lives for all to see, they’ll probably have a co-worker willing to do it for them, filled with their own commentary, and claiming it to be perfectly acceptable under our First Amendment rights. They’ll claim to own their own blogs, and own internet -TV networks with their own viewers which will allow them to claim the same rights as a press person traditionally has had.

According to First Amendment rights attorney Lawrence G. Walters of Weston, Garrou, DeWitt & Walters in Altamonte Springs, over the next several years the courts will be struggling with this issue of what is newsworthy and who is protected by the first amendment. He explained that if a person tapes themselves for their own autobiographical purposes to profit from their own image it is allowed. But once they show images of anyone else in public without first getting a signed release, the owners of the other images can file a publicity claim law suit.

Larry suggested that companies implement rules to circumvent this sort of thing from happening in the future. Companies can set up their own rules of what to wear, and what can and can’t happen in the work place. Then, if an employee crosses the line, the employer will be protected legally.

The future is nearly upon us. We can either ignore it or we can prepare for it. Soon we’ll have a whole new work force that act as if they are “stars”. If we don’t seek first to understand, we may be a “star” on someone else’s show.