Chances are everyone has heard about the boy who in fact didn’t go in a balloon today. The topic has been trending on Twitter all day and has been reported on just about every major news outlet. I find myself wondering about the future of these young children who make the news, especially with the Internet. Let’s face it; this kid has a very uncommon name, and if no one else, potential employers will look him up in the future. What will they think when they realize that he’s the Balloon Boy of 2009? I can relate, as Google says I share a name with no one. Heck, thanks to the Google Books project I discovered that a letter I wrote to a baseball magazine when I was ten is now available on the Internet for public consumption. At least I sounded reasonably articulate for a ten-year-old writing to an all-ages publication.
The funny part? I don’t really follow baseball anymore, but it’s the only sport I still read Wikipedia articles on.