As the technologically savvy generation y and z, we are continually online checking websites, emails, blogs; you name it if its online we want to know about it. We even create our own profiles on social networking sites, enabling us to develop relationships, interact and share information with our peers. However “the volume, range and method of sharing personal information across a variety of publics and audiences on SNSs pose an issue of growing concern for users” (Papacharissi & Gibson, 2011). The lines are continually blurring between our private and public lives. Are we over sharing personal information about ourselves online? Or are we completely in control of who can view this information?
I continually ask my self why our generation feels the need to post everything we do on Facebook or other social networking sites. Do we believe that checking in to an expensive restaurant or a popular bands concert will build our social status? The reason to me is quite obvious; we take advantage of this digital environment to develop profiles to present ourselves favourably the way in which we want others to perceive us (Boyd, 2011). We can no longer separate our reality from our online presence, “our life is [now] lived in, rather than with media – we are living a media life”. An excellent example of this convergence of ones reality and online presence is that “we are now all living inside our very own Truman Show (referring to the 1998 movie by director Peter Weir): a world characterized by pervasive and ubiquitous media that we are constantly and concurrently deeply immersed in, that we are the stars of, and that dominate and shape all aspects of our everyday life” (Deuze, 2011).
Having divulged this information about ourselves on social networking sites, we need to question how much control we really have over the information we share. By default privacy settings on social networking sites “prompt users to be more public with their information”, in order to disable these default privacy settings the user must “monitor, adjust and master” the revised settings to control who sees their posts. However “the persistence, replicability, scalability, and searchability of personal data deposited as individuals to forge social connections present privacy challenges”. We regard privacy as “control over information about oneself”, therefore the highly concerning underlying issue is how the information we disclose is being used. The US allows “digital traces of consumer behaviour that remain on partner and third party sites that users visit, like, or share, to be further exploited” without permission from those individuals. (Papacharissi & Gibson, 2011). Privacy is fast becoming a luxury, that we are subconsciously willing to give up so we can remain socially active online. On these sites we need to be aware that it is much “easier to share information than it is to hide it” (Papacharissi & Gibson, 2011) and we shouldn’t post personal information that we aren’t willing to share with the world.
Now I pose to you the question how comfortable are you with giving up control over your personal information on social networking sites?
References
Boyd, Danah, (2011). Chapter 2: Social Network Sites as Networked Publics – Affordances, Dynamics, and Implications. In Papacharissi, Zizi, A networked self – identity, community, and culture on social network sites. 39 - 5. New York: Routledge.
Papacharissi, Zizi and Paige L. Gibson. 2011. “15 minutes of Privacy: Privacy, Sociality, and Publicity on Social Network Sites.” In Privacy Online: Perspectives on Privacy and Self-Disclosure in the Social Web, edited by Sabine Trepte and Leonard Reinecke, 75-89. Heidelberg and New York: Springer.
