Online Activities And Social Media

On the one hand, some argue that social media is a main factor of the disturbance of privacy. Social media, especially popular ones such as Facebook or Twitter are known to leak and collect personal data without the user even knowing. Despite the fact that there are large amounts of privacy settings that are offered on these sites, they are not much help to protect a user’s privacy. A great deal of job applicants, students, and employees are being demanded to hand over their Facebook and other social media passwords over. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is an organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country” claims that “The privacy line should

"We collect the content and other information you provide when you use our Services, including when you sign up for an account, create or share, and message or communicate with others” (Hachman). Each day people live with a false security that they are protected and maintain a sense of privacy. Citizens misplace their trust in social media and technology, and divulge their personal information in ignorance of the repercussions that may arise. Users say the advances in technology and social media will not affect their privacy; however, it is proven that these advances can be a harbinger of both danger and discontent.

In his essay, “Get Over It,” Jeff Jarvis argues that “ . . . our supposed privacy crisis, . . . could result in our missing many of the opportunities the net affords to connect with each other and with information” (430). On the other hand, Andrew Keen, in “Sharing is a Trap,” states that “. . . this increasingly ubiquitous social network . . . is invading the 'sacred precincts' of private and domestic life” (426). With all the posting, tweeting, and blogging privet lives have become open to the public. SMS, emails and even calls are being traced, recorded and reviewed every day, you are not safe on the internet. Keen’s argument regarding social media is valid in regard to the transformative nature of the Internet, privacy and “publicness.”

Facebook. Instagram. Whatsapp. All which are categorised as social media, which we are all familiar with. Social media has been ingrained into our lives; we use them every day. Without social media, we would be lost for many reasons: It has encompassed both our personal and professional life, as its purposes ranges from using it for work purposes to simply having a chat. However, have we ever stopped and wondered at what cost? Little do we know that social media can be used as a tool to scrutinize our personal lives. We have been lied to about having freedom on social media, the Government has the ability to look at every single thing we are doing on it. This is a purely disgusting act, people deserve their privacy, and taking that away from them is – in the kindest manner- absolutely horrendous.

Numerous individuals use social media to upload their favorite moments, judgments, or just a night out with friends, but a lot of people do so without truly understanding the problem behind showing too much information online. For instance, everyone has the option to enter in all kinds of information on your profile like name, birth date, and place of living, but according to Mike Hard castle’s article, he wrote that “you should not list your birth date or phone number” (Hardcastle). Social media is an impressive tool that our generation uses each and every day, but like everything else, it comes with a price. The risk of sharing too much information leads to attracting attention from certain online predators. In Mike Hardcastle’s essay, he certainly lists many cons on why someone should not list every detail about themselves online. I indeed agree with what he says in the article because it is true that “predators will always choose a readily available target over one that takes work to find” (Hardcastle).

There is a rising dominance of social media sites that allows users lives to become increasingly transparent. With full information about ones activities available for everyone to see, it blurs the line between personal and impersonal information. Personal information like where you were, and your private life information are now things that everyone feels free to share, and by doing so dismantling the boundaries of personal information.

The United States is a culture of sharing. People share their personal lives on almost every aspects with social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The idea of free online services have attract people’s natural instinct to indulge themselves into these free services. What they do not know is how these “free-services” ask in return. Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat have revolutionized how people connect with one another and the way people retrieve resources, which also allows massive private information accessible to organizations. In the article called “Twitter’s Lucrative Data Mining Business” published in The Wall Street Journal, Elizabeth Dwoskin talks about Twitter’s disclosure that its company has “$47.5 million came from selling off its data to a fast-growing group of companies that analyze the data for insights into news events and trends” (Dwoskin). Although the internet has opened doors to many business opportunities and innovations, it has invaded social media users’ private information and often exposes them to unauthorized organizations such Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat for monetary gain. Legal standing has make it possible for these companies to appropriately set user’s policies regarding the disclosure of user’s privacy, but people often disregard on how companies are distributing their information that may expose their privacy to unauthorized organizations.

Social Media is a current way in which people are using to interact with one another daily. Since the launch of various Social Networking Sites (SNS) its been a huge attraction in a new way to share information with others and correspond with interests of your choice in many different forms. Although social media sites allow users to share information with friends and other sites on the internet, many people are unaware of how their privacy is getting out. Now that the expansion of global connection through these social media networking sites are so highly present in todays society, giving us easy access to information, the lack of one's privacy is being diminished. Everyday peoples privacy rights are

The Internet has done wonderful things for our world. Knowledge of practically anything can be obtained through the Internet. And now, with the booming of Social Media, that includes people. Nearly every person can be found online with information pertaining to their interests, their family, and even to their exact location. This shows how useful the Internet truly is, allowing us the ability to connect with others and share information about ourselves at any time, it’s an incredibly useful technology. At the same time, however, this incredible ease of finding personal information has created some issues relating to personal privacy.

Technology in today’s day and age has been molded to integrate with our daily lives. From adults to adolescents you see technology constantly being used throughout their average day. The past few generation have pulled away from chalkboards, typewriters, and paper books towards the newest ‘fads’ of American culture, such as laptops, smart boards, and tablets. While companies are always creating countless new products to keep up with the obsessive market of America’s economy, their profits shoot through the roof. Although employers are looking to hire young workers, the continual disruption of technology and social media has been getting in the way. Multiple companies have declared they have been searching through people's private social media

Just because one protects ones computer, hardware, and software from exposure to viruses, cyber spying, and spam, one can still be at risk to another social network site problem and that is a false sense of privacy. When using the Internet we often develop this false sense or anonymity by thinking no one can see who we are and what we are doing. Doug Fodeman and Marje Monroe (Fodeman, Monroe) discuss this false sense of privacy that users of social network sites experience in a web article titled “The Impact of Facebook on Our Students" that they recently published for the National Association of Independent Schools. The web article attempts to explain why many students post embarrassing, humiliating, threatening, and hurtful content in text, blogs, photos, and videos. The fact that most users feel anonymous and secure in their home, leads to a false sense of privacy. Various adults are looking at student profiles, pictures, and videos. This could range from a professor, teacher or parent to their future boss, prison inmate, or local registered sex offender. Nothing one posts on the Internet is 100% secure. Once this data is released, it is

Do you ever feel like you are being watched or followed, feels a little creepy right? That is exactly what is happening every time you log into one of the many social media sites offered via the world wide web. Some users say that if you aren’t doing anything wrong, what does it matter if our every move is being tracked and recorded. It matters because our privacy is being violated, having privacy is one of our basic human rights. When we sign up on social media we knowingly give up that right as Kent Anderson, author of “People are Willing to Trade Less Privacy for Access to Social Media”, writes, “ Social networks are based on sharing information, so anyone using such a network is automatically accepting

As technology continues to develop and offer more benefits and entertainment, we as users are offered less privacy and limited freedom. Digital media surveillance comes as no surprise to those who use it, as we are forced to give away our private and personal information as a price for consuming these technologies, resulting in data collection that benefits governments and companies. The Economist published an article in 1999 about The Surveillance Society, and explained that computers pose immediate threat to privacy, and that gathering data about individuals puts the power in the hands of governments and companies. This led to raise the question “In 20 years’ time, will there be any privacy left to protect?” (The Economist, 1999). Nearly 20 years later now, in 2016, privacy remains a concerning issue that continues to grow, and commercial advantages are furthering the expectancy in changing privacy laws. In this essay, I will argue that digital media surveillance is an invasion of people’s privacy, and explain how it affects their activities and participation online. I will use WhatsApp and Google as examples to illustrate how users are being surveilled through social media platforms.

Despite the overwhelming concerns regarding online privacy, people continue using technology and share their information on social media. According to the article “We Want Privacy But We Can’t Stop Sharing” by Kate Murphy, a journalist for the New York Times, she claims that “it’s hard to argue for the value of privacy when people eagerly share so much achingly personal information on social media.” In other words, people

When millennials are accused of failing to legitimize privacy on the internet, the accusers, who are sometimes millennials themselves, forget the home field advantage they have grown up in. One such example of that is social media, which has expanded to widened use across all generational gaps, making an ideal control group. A similar report to that of the Media Insight Project by the Pew Research Center gathered statistical evidence comparing how millennials, and older generations censor themselves while on social media platforms. The study showed that the age group 18 to 29 are more likely to limit personal data available online, change privacy settings, delete unwanted comments, and remove their names from photos, all in the name of internet privacy (Madden/Smith 1). This is still rather contradictory. How can many young millennials take steps to hide themselves when only a small majority actually worry most about the issue? It could be possible the majority fears something else.