Face It: Dear Old Diary is gone, never to return It would appear that in this day and age it is virtually impossible to keep a secret.

I’m guessing that the art of keeping a Diary (oh-so-private, handwritten collection of one’s personal thoughts and feelings) has gone by the wayside.

Now, due to vast ranges of technology, secrets are defunct, and nobody has a speck of respect for stuff that should just be kept to oneself.

The culprits causing the Death of the Diary?

Cell phones and social networks. Everyone just wants to share EVERYthing, no matter how personal or inconsequential.

I pity the Yoots of Today. Little Johnnies and Susies in kindergarten can easily capture pics of a classmate having a messy pants incident, which can haunt the poor little dude well into high school years.

By the end of the school day your whole world can be in tatters, your social network destroyed, and the day that started with you being the coolest kid in class will culminate with bullying and ostracization.

It used to take days and days for a secret to be shared, because you had to use the telephone with the cord attached to the wall to do so.

Timing was imperative as well, cuz the whole family hung out in the kitchen where said phone lived.

Why, oh why, is there such a need to share in our world? Is it just because we CAN?

Has this deep-seated longing always been present within folks, just searching for an outlet?

Take a moment to check out the social networks. Facebook junkies will divulge anything and everything, on a daily basis.

What they ate or will be eating, what time they go to bed, and even with whom.

Intimate feelings are right out there for the whole world to see, privacy settings be damned.

Picture taking cell phones are particularly offensive in my book.

No place is safe—the precious secrets of even a public clothing store’s dressing rooms are compromised.

You think you’re in there all by yourself, but it turns out some creep has snuck his teeny weeny little hand-held camera under the door.

The next day there you are, checking out your half-naked coolie in a bathing suit, right on YouTube. Ugggghh.

I’m desperately trying to find the up-side of the super highway of information.

No doubt it could pan out nicely for parents to track down and monitor their kids.

In my day it was possible to call home from any phone booth on the planet, while claiming you were down the street at your pal’s house.

I know this to be true cuz, well, I did it tons of times. The ’rents had no caller ID, so unless an untimely tractor trailer happened by during the conversation you were pretty much safe.

Not so in today’s world.

AT&T is airing a commercial which shows the mom calling sonny boy at home, they can see each other on their screens, she asks him why he’s sitting in the dark and then conveniently pushes a button on the magic phone which flips the lights on in the house.

Holy cow. In the event that boy has anything to hide he’s totally screwed. The babysitter of the future? Maybe so, cuz the cameras are clickin.

Will this younger generation ever consider the beloved Diary ever again?

The kind with the itsy bitsy key that could easily be swallowed if the contents of that Good Book were in jeopardy?

Carefully concealed in the undies drawer, which was sacred ground even to siblings?

I think not.

Secrets are a thing of the past, and although secrets don’t make friends, they sure help you keep them more often than not.

R.I.P. Dear Diary—they have no idea what they’re missin. God help the poor slob that finds mine…