I was reading Meghan Asha’s Tumblr when I stumbled across a blog post that I could definitely relate to. It was titled, How much is ‘too much’ to show on the Internet?

The idea of fame and celebrity status will at one point or another flood your mind. Remember when you were seven years old and you said you wanted to grow up to be Brad Pitt or Britney Spears? This sounds dorky, but when I was seven years old, I aspired to be as smart and successful as our good friend Bill Gates. I wanted people to admire me for my amazing achievements. Now, it seems as if people enjoy talking crap about all of the celebs I’ve mentioned above. Then what good is having celebrity status?

Here’s a tidbit from Meghan Asha’s blog:

Strangely, it was compelling to watch someone else doing daily activities in front of a web cam. What makes some people such exhibitionists? My friend Julia Allison is all over the Internet with intimate details of her personal life. It seems like exposing yourself to the virtual world is an addictive cycle that leaves one with an initial high and low (once you’ve read others nasty comments on your video or blog).

After thinking this through, I will have to agree. I’ve been filmed for documentaries and TV shows. (one which I decided NOT to allow released because I felt like a schmuck.) Like pretty much every other girl in the tech scene, I’ve been on Valleywag. I once had a webcam show that I promise never to do again. Basically, the idea of having lots of publicity and being in the public eye is VERY appealing. But after a while of having video cameras watching you do this and that, you want to just go back to normalcy.

Publicity is best (I feel) when it comes in doses. Doing an interview or being blasted on Valleywag every so often can be fun. When it happens daily, you get bored. Getting publicity and fame is just like taking drugs. You get a high, you get a low, and if you get it too often, you become addicted. When the attention goes away, you wonder what happened to your celebrity status. Not like I’d know… I’ve never been famous! But these are still important thoughts I need to let out.

There are, however, very positive points to having all of this:

1) You get credibility. People are impressed by the noteworthy interviews/tv shows/etc.. added to your resume. I take advantage of it all the time!

2) People recognize you. I remember going to the Super Happy Dev House Party back in August and so many people there recognized me! One person I met even told me that his buddy IMed him with a link to my blog. Or getting emails from random readers saying that they saw you at a random part of the city. Awesomeness!

3) Publicity = Traffic to your blog = New friends! I love getting emails from you guys. I love meeting my readers in person and becoming true (non-internet) friends.

I can go on and on, but you get my drift. Take the publicity in doses and take control over your image. I haven’t been the best at doing that. I’ve been trying to get attention as a smart, yet fun and awesome blogger chick because that’s truly who I am. :) I hope its working!

PS – I’ll try to keep the sex appeal to a low, but my male readers prefer otherwise.

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She’s currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, and Jessicamah.com. In her free time, she enjoys the prospect of being an underage angel investor while partying like a rock star. (and traveling to random cities and checking into hotels while being underage)