In the article "A Privacy Paradox: Social Networking in the United States," Susan B. Barnes discusses how little privacy we actually have as social media users, especially when it comes to teenagers. Barnes talks about how younger generations are "pouring their minds, if not their hearts into cyberspace." Teenagers (and even some college students I happen to know) tend to use social networking sites as an outlet to clear their heads and stow their thoughts ...otherwise known as a modern, cyber diary.
Sites like Xanga, Myspace, Facebook and LinkedIn encourage people to share their personal information to connect with friends and co-workers, but the user is often fooled that their privacy is safer than it really is. I feel like most users (mainly older) know that their privacy in not protected - even with profiles being set to "private", however other users are unaware that revealing too much private information puts them in jeopardy and can lead to dangerous consequences. Online predators can collect online information, but they are not the only concern: marketers, government agencies and even school officials can access this data as well.
In a post 9/11 world, the United States government utilizes computer technology to exert some type of control over its citizens rather than protect their privacy. This brings up the question: Is this a privacy breach or public safety? In a recent NBC News article, a Southern California school district began monitoring teens' Facebook posts in efforts to prevent cyberbullying. When people apply for new jobs, companies also tend to check out the candidate's social media to ensure there is nothing inappropriate.
Recently a lot of citizens have been outraged at the NSA for essentially "spying" on us. Many people think this is an extraordinary breach of privacy, while others contradict this by claiming it is for national security. What constitutes how far is too far when it concerns the government and our personal information?
One very important issue that Internet and social media users need to remember is that social networking sites are cumulative. Replacing old information with new material does not delete the old info, it is archived somewhere in cyberspace. Even this blog will be archived for years to come!
That being said, whatever private information you put about yourself on the world wide web can be accessed for years and years. How much information about yourself do you broadcast on the web? How much is too much information? Where do you draw the line?
Sites like Xanga, Myspace, Facebook and LinkedIn encourage people to share their personal information to connect with friends and co-workers, but the user is often fooled that their privacy is safer than it really is. I feel like most users (mainly older) know that their privacy in not protected - even with profiles being set to "private", however other users are unaware that revealing too much private information puts them in jeopardy and can lead to dangerous consequences. Online predators can collect online information, but they are not the only concern: marketers, government agencies and even school officials can access this data as well.
In a post 9/11 world, the United States government utilizes computer technology to exert some type of control over its citizens rather than protect their privacy. This brings up the question: Is this a privacy breach or public safety? In a recent NBC News article, a Southern California school district began monitoring teens' Facebook posts in efforts to prevent cyberbullying. When people apply for new jobs, companies also tend to check out the candidate's social media to ensure there is nothing inappropriate.
Recently a lot of citizens have been outraged at the NSA for essentially "spying" on us. Many people think this is an extraordinary breach of privacy, while others contradict this by claiming it is for national security. What constitutes how far is too far when it concerns the government and our personal information?
One very important issue that Internet and social media users need to remember is that social networking sites are cumulative. Replacing old information with new material does not delete the old info, it is archived somewhere in cyberspace. Even this blog will be archived for years to come!
That being said, whatever private information you put about yourself on the world wide web can be accessed for years and years. How much information about yourself do you broadcast on the web? How much is too much information? Where do you draw the line?
I think bringing up the fact that these networking sites are cumulative is extremely important. We know that our profiles are "private", but I can't say that before every single status, I remind myself that in 10 years someone could search through my profile and find this specific thought or rant. The thought of searching my Facebook back to 2007 to see what my 17 year old self had to say about life, is a little scary and/or possibly embarrassing. We may edit ourselves and abide by so called "Facebook social expectations" but those have already drastically changed since Facebook's beginning. I think something else that parents need to teach their teens, along with not putting contact information on the internet, is that what you say or post is something you may have to be held accountable for one day. What goes on the internet stays on the internet.
ReplyDeleteIt irks me to no end this idea that the internet is "cumulative." There should be a finite time for things to sit in cyberspace once they are deleted before they are eradicated forever. (Statute of limitations should be written to figure out the time necessary for things to "sit," in case they are pertinent to a crime case.) It's not just a matter of teaching kids (and adults!) what should not be put out into the internet, though that is just as important. But everyone makes mistakes, especially in our formative years, and we should have a basic right to eliminate these things if there is no reason otherwise to say we shouldn't.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your questions, however: besides personal information (never do it!), these kind of questions are case-by-case. Some people are very open online personalities and have garnered much acclaim for it, and that works for them. Journalists, musicians, athletes, Twitterers... Where should they cease giving us information? Where do THEY draw the line, and how they do they decide? That could be a whole book.
DeleteWhat I do and don’t broadcast is usually equally related to how naked I am in it and how much I’ve had to drink when the opportunity to post said thing arises. In all seriousness, I have zero expectation to privacy on the internet. I assume everything will be seen, and under this assumption I sometimes restrain my impulses, though I will just as easily post that dumb photo that an employer might see. Its not particularly wise, but it does happen.
ReplyDeleteI tend to find that I am actually the opposite in regards to this article, though I certainly understand how a lack of experience with the world would lead to someone posting too much information. In my case, I’ve simply stopped caring as much what people see from me. Then again there are other things that I will never put out on the internet. So its just a sliding scale of how I feel at the time.