How do young adults and adolescents feel about privacy when so much of our lives are online?
Is privacy as important a topic as some people make it out to be? Is it just accepted that some things are always going to be public and privacy is an ideal?
Over eighty percent of Americans are active on social media. That statistic can be interpreted in one of two ways: impressive or concerning. I think we can agree that it definitely isn’t surprising, though.
Everywhere you turn, people are scrolling on their phones, tablets, or laptops. Odds are they’ve already shared some aspect of their lives online at least a few times today, whether that’s on social media apps, through email, or a blog post.
What does that mean for our privacy, then? You’ve probably seen people posting photos of their kids online, sharing their locations, and updating the Internet whenever they begin or end a relationship. Things that should arguably be kept between us and our loved ones are being put out there for strangers to enjoy, and a proportion of these certainly do not have good intentions.
Since the day social media became a worldwide phenomenon, users were eager to share their thoughts with the rest of the world. Children (myself and my classmates included) created accounts under fake dates of birth just to contribute to the ever-growing database of human information that is the Internet. Over the years, following controversies like Edward Snowden’s famous WikiLeaks revelations, we’ve come to understand how vulnerable we’re making ourselves by sharing too much of our lives online. Privacy issues can lead to corrupted files, viruses, or hacking scandals, but can also have negative implications on our real lives.
As a result, Instagram profiles are increasingly private (i.e. only followers whom the person in question accepts can see their content), and Facebook posts are set to ‘friends only’. Webcams are covered with pieces of tape, and programs are purchased to protect us from potential fraud and malware. We carefully select who we accept messages from online. While some young people understand the concept of keeping personal information exclusively private and away from the keen eye of the Internet, others argue that it’s all pointless paranoia and are super comfortable with sharing every little detail.
Privacy exists nevertheless. Even though there are adolescents sharing the best and worst moments of their lives online, some things do stay away from the screens. It’s to do purely with their judgement of what is and what isn’t appropriate for their followers to see and how it might impact their reputation. For example, if you believe that letting your online audience know that you’re currently on a train heading to an awesome holiday destination will help you hit a goal (and this can be anything from gaining followers to simply making your friends and family jealous) without putting you in any sort of danger, then there’s no problem. It’s subjective – as long as you use your common sense, you’re good to go.
