Paul Hickey: Not just Big Brother who's watching

Social media means people know what you're doing nearly all of the time.

You know the saying "what happens on tour stays on tour"? You have to wonder if it really is actually possible any more with the social media age. I am sitting outside a motel room on a weekend away and while there is not necessarily anything on this tour that needs to stay on tour, I can see that it's getting harder to make that happen. As a large group of us sit around the barbecue table updating statuses, tweeting and sharing photos, even those who do not have any social media accounts are being tagged and mentioned.

You may recall I wrote a couple of weeks ago about my New Year's resolutions that included more use of social media. So I am as guilty as everyone here who is doing it - but it is certainly a case now of being pretty hard to avoid people knowing all about what you are doing pretty much all of the time.

While you could say that you would be strong and not post while away, that is easier said than done. And when there are a lot of people around, one strong willed person won't change the overall effect.

I suppose the only way to get away from it all is to do the real camping thing, away from all power and any kind of cellphone coverage. My family tried that a couple of weeks back and managed - but only just.

The tablets and phones were in high use upon their return home at the end of the week.

The weekend away was a sporting one and unfortunately our Rotorua Rebels superstock team got eliminated on the first night. This ignited a bit of a debate among our large group of travellers about which team we should now be supporting. Opinions were pretty divided as I would have expected and got a bit heated in a lighthearted way.

But the conversation then grew into some other sports and teams we support in those divisions and competitions.

With the cricket world cup coming up it's pretty obvious who we should all support. But it's a different story around some of the franchise-based competitions.

There seems to be an element of the community who think the Warriors should be every New Zealander's favourite team in the NRL comp.

Likewise with the Breakers and the Phoenix in the basketball and football competitions.

I have friends who dislike these teams because they have other favourites, which is fine by me. I will admit I do support all these sides but it is by choice not obligation. But don't get me started on the team names that should include Auckland. That's a whole other ball game.

-Paul Hickey is the host of the locally-based 9am-3pm show on The Hits Rotorua 97.5FM. Follow on Facebook The Hits Rotorua and on Twitter @paulhickeynz