Mike Hardcastle's Essay

There is a high level of vulnerability with sharing personal information about oneself online (Debatin 2009:3). Potential stalkers in a physical or digital environment can use the information (Debatin 2009:3). The digital environment has made it easier for people to infringe on personal information. The most common happenings reported on Facebook include changing users’ pictures, creating fake accounts, making embarrassing information public, creating vulnerability (Debatin 2009:3). Concerns over issues related to Facebook’s privacy policy include divulging user information to government agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (Debatin 2009:3).

Online predators and Stalkers can easily gain access to social media users’ personal information by either requesting to be a user’s friend or simply finding a way around the user's privacy settings. According to June Ahn, chat rooms are public and is an unmonitored space where online predators are more likely to be. “Adolescents are less likely to be targeted for unwanted sexual solicitation in social media than chat rooms.”(Ahn, June) I have found that, 412 adolescents were more likely to talk with strangers. This is hazardous for young children and adolescents because their lack of life experience leads them to blindly accept all friend request. The effort to seem popular by having many friends online can damage credibility and truth worthiness.

Most people are uptight about the likes and comments they receive on social media websites, Carr formally proclaims. All of the popular websites use this method to receive more people active on them. Doing this urges people to share personal details about their life. “...people share four times as much information about themselves when they converse through computers as when they talk in person” (Carr 3). It is not necessary for people to share an extreme amount of details about their lives, but they still do.

In this digital era, one of the biggest threat for an individual is the invasion of privacy on social media. By social media, I am referring to the interaction and sharing of information on the Internet in order to stay connected with friends, family and business associates. Studies have found that invasion in privacy is a result of multiple factors like lack of consumer knowledge, low self-esteem, growing comfort, trust, generation of revenue and a lack of standards which lead to occurrence of harmful events like identity theft and fraud. “Self-esteem refers to a person’s overall evaluation or judgment of his or her own self (qtd. in Lee and Cheung 150).” Research reveals that identity theft affects millions of people a year, costing victims countless hours and money in identity recovery. “Ninety-five percent of Facebook profiles have at least one application, many of which are not reviewed and can be used for criminal purposes (qtd. in Kent).” Use of social networks can also expose individuals to harassment or inappropriate contact from others. “The Pew Center, in their Cyberbullying 2010 report, states that 93 percent of teens aged 12 to 17 use the Internet. Of that 93 percent, 63 percent of them use the Internet daily. Such high usage increases the risk of their being victims of cyberbullying or other cyber-crimes (qtd. in Cosmato).” Accordingly this essay will explore possible ways to guard privacy when using social media. I will demonstrate that lack of consumer

The posting of location and where they live has gone from 61% to 71% in 12 years. 71% of teens post their school name, which went up from 41%. All this poses a threat to identity theft or stalking. On social media profiles 92% of people post their real name and 82% put their birthday. 12% of teenage twitter users don't know if their tweets are private or not. 19% say that they have posted a photo, video, or comment they later regretted. Almost 60% of 18-35 year olds think people share too much info about their personal thoughts, experiences and location. 24% of teens confess that they don't actually know or like all the people the accept follow requests from. From all the posting, sharing info, and interacting online about 27 hours per week is

In today’s society many people have a social media account like, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. In the essay “Could Your Facebook Profile Throw a Wrench in Your Career?” by Rebecca Dince; tells us how Facebook changed how people see the world. Employers were looking on Facebook for information about the individuals they were looking to hire. Facebook also raised privacy issues like, addresses, cell phone numbers and sexual preferences. I believe that the website also brought on cyber bullying.

What is online about someone can bring negative consequences Murphy explains “you might not get a job because of a indiscreet tweet”(1). The internet can have a big impact on your outside life and might even get in the way of employment. Murphy also explains how “relationships are harder to establish”(5). It is hard to have a relationship and have it grow if everything about you is searchable the more you put put out about yourself on the internet the leas intimate things can be in a relationship. Murphy informs us on how “people are coming to understand how their online date might be used against them”(1).Posting online can have many more consequences. Employers and colleges now look to social media to check out possible candidates if there are questionable items that show up they might prevent a job

Social media has changed many lives and caused many addictions. In today's society many people misunderstand emotions of others through social media. Personal information can be leaked in many ways. For example, identities can be stolen through personal information people share on social media. Identities can lead to a term called “Catfishing”, the phenomenon of internet predators that fabricate online identities and entire social circles to trick people into emotional/romantic relationships. Social media causes issues, concerns and is time consuming.

Finally, social media gives people the option of masking their identity. In fact, not all people create fake personas, or purposely pursue innocent bystanders to escape the reality of their lives. After watching the documentary catfish, I know that there is a variation of which whom exist online. Furthermore, social media enables catfish to exist in our online world. In addition, the more aware and cautious we are about who we associate with through chat, email, or messaging apps can steer us clear of predatory

In relation to privacy, social networking and many other genres of the internet are one of the main and easiest places to track down people, many naïve victims, posts up their details on their profile, making it easy to enable stalkers or strangers to have advantage of virtually meeting you. This problem has caused many families to live in fear, not knowing how vulnerable they are to the outside world, where

Firstly, social media is ruining people’s working careers. Thousands of people nowadays are posting photos of themselves in revealing clothes or posting inappropriate comments that are going to bite them in the butt later on when they are going for an important job interview. When a company encounters a new potential employee they run background checks to see if this is the right person for the job. This means that they look at your past history and your SOCIAL MEDIA accounts. This has been proven by a survey conducted by the Eurocorn Worldwide that found that nearly 40 percent of companies use social media to research job candidates, and one in five companies have rejected a candidate because of what they found on his or her social media profiles. People don’t realise that the photos or comments that they are posting could potentially be ruining their working opportunities and careers. An example of an individual who found herself in hot water thanks to her social media post was

A world where technology, the Internet, and social networking websites do not exist is an unspeakable, if not an impossible theory in the minds of today’s generation. The Internet, for example, has allowed for people to live a life that is fast and easy. A life that is more accurate and efficient in terms of knowledge and direction. A question that one might have can be answered instantly with the help of the well-known Google search engine. An address of a company or business can be found within a minute with either Google Maps or Apple Maps. With just a click of a mouse and a touch of finger, technology and the Internet can make life easy. Social networking websites have also made a positive impact in the lives of many, both professionally and personally. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have become very popular, especially in the up and coming generations. These social networking websites are online places “where [users] can create a profile and build a personal network that connects him or her to others,” (Lenhart and Madden, 2006). It has allowed users to be connected and stay connected by building relationships in a business aspect and a personal aspect. It also serves as a means of communication and networking. Although social networking websites have had a positive impact on the lives of many, it has also had a negative impact, especially in terms of multiple privacy

Instagram. Twitter. Facebook Admit it, you know you have one or even all of these. A regular part of your daily life has become social networking sites such as these or that they have probably become part of your daily routine: wake up, check Facebook. Shower, check Instagram. Write about your day on Twitter. While Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are easy ways to communicate with friends and family, few stop to consider the implications its usage may have for them in the future, or the hidden dangers of having an account. Besides the total loss of privacy that comes with these networks, they can also affect your eligibility for employment, allow unknown predators access to private information, and impair peoples’ ability to handle

After the progression of new technology, within the past decade, and the development of social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, societal norms have significantly changed. Online dating and socializing has become more common and, with that, so has the documentation of profiles of individuals’ data and personal information, all up for the world to see. This new era of online social interaction is essentially diminishing and putting the value of privacy and control of one’s image and identity at stake, with issues arising like cyberbullying, exploitation of personal data and images for corporate use, and the ability for anyone to easily track down and monitor another individual’s life. Along with the dangers of privacy, social networking sites have become a harmful distraction to individuals resulting in numerous physiological and social issues. Checking and inevitably comparing status updates or tweets have become a way for people to measure and fundamentally build a self-esteem upon, and spending more time evaluating the real world in the cyber world means spending less time genuinely experiencing and dealing with life situations and relationships face to face. Although many people claim that today’s internet age allows individuals to better connect and socialize, ironically, in a way, these social networking sites, by detaching individuals from “living in the moment”, are establishing a more

The public nature of online profiles creates security risks about which most users are unaware. Cybercriminals can gather information to be used for identity theft from social networking profiles, such as birthdays, pet names, mothers ' maiden names, names of children, and other details often used in passwords and security questions. Offline crime may result from posting personal information, like home robberies committed after a person announces vacation plans and alerts criminals when the home will be left unattended.