Technology is pretty amazing these days. It’s also informative and potentially scary. I’m writing a book that begins in the year 2002 and I couldn’t remember what technology was around back then so I did a little research. Did we have laptops? What kind of phones did we use? What about digital cameras? What I discovered is…I’m old and the technology of twenty years ago was primitive in comparison to what we have today. Back then we used flip phones to (slowly) text and call people. Remember those days? When we spoke to people instead of shooting off a quick text? Or voice to text? And then the geniuses in Silicon Valley added the (fuzzy) photo feature and before you know it, we’re carrying computers in our pockets that do everything from transferring money and editing photos, to reserving flights and making movies! I have all the news I could possibly read in the palm of my hand. That definitely falls in the ‘amazing’ category.
In the ‘informative’ and ‘potentially scary’ column, I include website analytics. Normally, anything with the word ‘analytics’ in it may as well be written in Sanskrit for my lack of understanding. But these website analytics are simpler to comprehend than the name suggests. Even I understand this stuff. For instance, every time someone clicks on my blog, these website analytics tell me not only what page they visit and when, but the IP address and town a reader lives in!
When I first opened these analytics, I thought…I don’t need to know this much information about my readers! Though I will say I’m continually amazed by the number of people who read my blog and the geographic diversity represented. To those readers, I say thank you! I’m flattered and still have no clue how you found me. I’m just a romance writer from little ol’ Rhode Island.
But here’s where the ‘scary’ comes in. One day, I noticed a lot of my visitors were from Warwick, RI. That seemed odd considering I know maybe two people who live in Warwick. So I scanned the IP addresses and the vast majority of those clicks were from one person who checked my blog sixty-seven times in a single day! You read that right. Sixty-seven! I’m a pretty good writer, but I’m no Shakespeare. This person obsessively visited my blog from nine in the morning until close to midnight. Should I be worried? Would the police consider this stalking?
There are a few others who visit my blog a ‘potentially scary’ amount. People from my tiny home state. Based on these analytics, someone in Coventry could be considered stalker material. There are also a couple of potential suspects from East Greenwich and North Kingstown the police might want to question if anything ever happened to me or the people I care about. Just putting it out there because with these numbers, you never know! Visiting my site once or twice a day, sure, but sixty-seven times? Analytically speaking, you’re unhinged! I’m making sure my doors and windows are locked. I’m not parking in dark lots without a can of mace.
What’s the saying? Forewarned is forearmed? I give you fair warning? I don’t know…it’s something along those lines. Potential stalkers, you have been digitally noted. I’ll leave it at that.