source: In session film
“Social Media is no longer an esoteric environment; it has now become the heart of the lives of some individuals.”
The way people connect in today’s time compared to the past has drastically changed. We are now living in the modern digital age where people would rather connect via social media and various apps instead of personally. We then find ourselves becoming a completely different person online compared to who we are in reality.
Social media has become a place for people to be whoever they want to. It allows certain people a place to create an identity completely different to who they are in real life. People use their created identity to escape reality or to fit in with others within the digital space.
In real life, people have to be who they are. There is no hiding behind a social media platform or pretending to be who you aren’t as peoples true emotions are shown daily and we are surrounded by other people during most of the times for them to get to know our true selves. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook allow people to create a “perfect life”. A life that other people desire, even though their online life is nothing like their actual lives, it just makes them feel better.
As shown in the movie. “The Circle” our digital lives take over our private lives, as privacy is completely taken away. In the film, Mae Holland (played by Emma Watson) broke the privacy barrier as she decided to go transparent and show the world exactly what was going on in her life with no secrets or barriers whatsoever. She had no separation of her personal and professional life, allowing anyone to comment and interfere in her life which we see towards the end of the film when everyone interferes in her relationship with Mercer. This affects the relationships we have with certain people as not everyone likes posting about every little thing happening in our lives. We also see privacy being taken away in the film when everyone gets to see the intimate moments that her parents shared, making them feel completely violated.
Thus people definitely need their privacy. It goes beyond a human right to break the privacy barrier as it could be quite dangerous to just let anyone into our personal lives. People should be allowed to take a break from social media platforms and live their lives, enjoying moments as they come instead of sharing every single moment with other people (including complete strangers).
