The Digital Presence of Technology and the Advanced Usage of the Internet - Essay Example

The modern times have seen progress in terms of the usage of the technology. The digital presence of technology and the advanced usage of internet is the parallel gift of technology introduced with time. The Web 2.0 characterized by the presence and introduction of number of tools and applications of internet is the modern day appearance of technology as a whole. This includes the social media and social networking website sources. These have redefined and drawn out new means of communication and reach out to the other fellow beings. The excessively broader use and reach out has its down sides to it as well. This downside comes in the form of the privacy concerns and aspects consideration. This paper looks into the possible negatives that are directly associated with the use of technology in general and social media in particular. Despite the large number of benefits to it, the social media and other digital sources are termed as a tool of breach into privacy. Closely linked network: The social media interface is a closely linked network. All the people present are connected through the single source of internet. According to the recently conducted stats and survey, the number of people who are enrolled in the usage of social media has amounted to over two billion users. This makes it nearly one in four people on the globe to be enrolled in the social media interface (Kemp, 2014). The closely linked existence and working of this technological concept is beneficial in multiple ways. One medium of connectivity enables easy reach out and broader means of connection, however the very closely linked and easy reach out can have another dimension to it. This would broadly include the privacy concerns. Apart from the modern day social networking sources, internet in general was attributed to a means of tracking out anyone who gets online through it. The modern tracking systems and various other associated sources and concepts have embedded the human’s limit of privacy, more so after the introduction of social networking websites that connect the people digitally in an intertwined manner where staying off the radar becomes nearly impossible. With lots of benefits associated to the presence and usage of the social media, the most debated and discussed negative and downside of social media is debated through the privacy concerns. The social media has seen instances and accounts of privacy invasion, stalking and various other formal, informal means and procedures through which the people have felt insecure. The top most social networking websites that have large number of people associated to them through the various membership methods include Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Orkut, Youtube, Flicker and Delicious etc to name a few. All these have their own set of rules, set of terms and conditions and application softwares that enforce the users into giving their information. Some of the aforementioned applications even come up with the functions and features of Geo tagging and location enabling. Many people tag themselves and add the locations of places unknowingly and unintended, yet in longer term and in the context of privacy concerns and fears later on, they are targeted and are an easy target with regard to the safety that they may want while remaining online. To some people, the very nature of social media is risky and information leaking. For example, all the major sources of social media interaction and network establishment, the information sharing, the date of birth, location, secret question, privacy settings and various other similar requirements are termed as a source of reaching out to the users through directly or indirectly. To some people, the presence and establishment of the social media websites and network as a whole is a concept for enrolling the people into online platform, through which the people can be traced and their activities, their information and various other options are traceable. While social media has enabled easy reach out and flexible and all the time connectivity mechanism, it at the same time has led to the question of the less secure existence on the medium of internet. This concern is expressed by the grownups towards their safety as well as the safety of the children. Since large number of teenagers and the college going students are enrolled into the usage of online networking schemes, they are at a direct threat of bullying and other negative elements. Child abuse and various other threats loom large over the individuals and students who unknowingly upload their photos, their information and other private data related to their activities and those of their family members. This is adding to the parents concern (Johnston, 2014). Hence this is another added concern through the usage of digital media and technology. One of the major fears that is often expressed and the threat directed to the common man through the usage of these social networking websites is the giving out of the information. All the information so shared can be used against the financial information shared by different people. Since credit cards are part of every other individual’s daily routine activities, reaching out to it, and giving the information that is needed to break into the people’s personal accounts are often made possible through the use of credit card. All this is enabled through the information available on the people’s walls. At times people give out information about their favorite personalities, childhood friends, secret words and many more similarly resembling words that are often used by the hackers online for breaching into their secure accounts, their credit cards. Every year the use of online sources and internet medium sees ordinary civilians being ripped off through this method. This is one of the most dangerous and potential threat posed and added to the number of threats faced by the individual users of internet and social media around the world. For example, large amount of people are traced out through the very basic means and methods of social media usage. Although the social media provides considerable amount of privacy means and policy measures through which the users can protect their accounts and make them safe, yet there are also other means and methods that have made the usage of social media least secure. For example the activities that are visible on the walls can be stalked; the other means through which the friends list can be traced out, the last time one particular user liked a page and various other similar features of information extraction from a given profile. In case an individual is not aware about the privacy features, by default all these features are not disabled and any one can see the activities and various other informational sources through which the individual may be chased or bothered in any given way. The sense of privacy is kept in check with the constant fear, constant believe and constant reason to thinking that the activities are on notice. The very fact that the people are visible on the online platform, and can be traced through their liking of page, their liking of a fan following club, comment on any other friend’s wall and much more even if the maximum sources of security are established, all these factors lead one to be in a relatively insecure state of existence on the social media and digital presence. Not just the common man, but the institutions and agencies designated towards the purpose of keeping an eye on set of individuals or believers in a particular mindset and ideology that may be destructive or otherwise non productive towards the already troubled society of mankind, all these are a source of tracing and finding out through the social media. The very fact that these social networking websites often require personal information related answers such as the secret questions, the mother’s name, the mobile number being used, and how they send over the notification and content on the mobile phone through regular updates and other similar functions, all these make up for the privacy concerns. The terms of use and terms and condition which are often taken for granted by the users who sign in and start using the internet and the social networking websites, all these amount to the privacy concerns and penetrating into the secrecy of individuals who may not realize the repercussions but through the usage of internet, they are enrolled into a system and mechanism through which the users are easy to trace down, easy to monitor and their activities can be noticed more actively. The usage of the social media becomes more important in the wake of the global scenario and the use of internet and digital media for all the destructive activities that the world has seen in the recent times. The intelligence agencies have been used for this purpose to check into the people’s online activities, their folks groups, their tendencies and various similar activities and functions through which the hunting down of individuals who pose any threat to the society and state can be easily traced down. The fact cannot be denied that the social media and the specific websites have made it easy to reach out to people, it has also enabled making connections through a different manner, it has brought all those people into contact who were long lost and were scattered in different parts of the world. It has changed the mechanism and manner through which the people used to interact actively and previously. The level of interaction has gone so broad that the interactive process is more actively engaged on the digital interface than the people may practice it in the real life. Yet, despite all these developments, there is a constant fear, debate and issue of whether the social media has made the surroundings and privacy concern active or less protective in the context of lack of thread and any danger towards the safety and privacy that every individual desires. While it is an established fact that the social networking websites have large number of benefits to them, they have become an essentially in separable part of our daily life. It has become a source of connect and communication between the people who are miles away from each other (Fishkin & Høgenhaven, 2013, p 124). It is so effective that people do not even get to interact in offices as much as they do through the use of these networking sites since they provide all kinds of leisure and interactive opportunities. However the constraint and fear of privacy infiltration remains there. The steps that can be taken towards making this concept and technology a more interactive and safer one is through adopting safe online operational services. Ensuring that the safety filters and all the necessary information is kept hidden from the public eye and other online sources usage and awareness means are adopted to good effect. This will make the social networking websites a blend of success, safety and means of leisure and interactive engagement between people from different walks of life and those who are distanced by their jobs and other constraints. Conclusion: Having identified the scale to which this technology and trend has infiltrated into our society and our daily lives, it can be safely said that whether we like it or not, but social media and the other modern means of digital domination and interaction are bound to impact our lives in one way or the other. Even if one individual demands and desires staying away from them, their relatively, family directly associated will use it and as a result their affiliations are directly or indirectly determined. Many a time, people upload photos without any consideration and regard to the possible fears and information that they may be sharing out, all these are a point of concern and fear with regard to the presence of the social media and how it erodes the sense of security and freedom from a constant source of watch over our heads that is little preventable. Children being the direct subject to potential vulnerabilities of technology and social media is another added concern of modern day tools of interaction. References: Fishkin, R. & Høgenhaven, T., 2013. Inbound Marketing and SEO: Insights from the Moz Blog. s.l.:John Wiley & Sons Johnston, C., 2014. Social media is parents greatest online fear, research says. [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/12/social-media-children-parents-safety-bullying [Accessed 1 Dec 2014] Kemp, S., 2014. Global Social Media Users Pass 2 Billion. [Online] Available at: http://wearesocial.net/blog/2014/08/global-social-media-users-pass-2-billion/ [Accessed 1 Dec 2014 Read More