The Use of Social Media and the End of Privacy - Essay Example

The Use of Social Media and the End of Privacy

The information age has brought about new ways of social interactions. In previous decades, people relied on one-one meetings with societal members so that they could share information. However, this has changed, and the rise in technological gadgets enables individuals to interact through social media platforms. The various social media channels include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, where the vast global population spends much time sharing their information through messages, videos, and pictures.

In 2019, Facebook celebrated 15 years since its launch, and over the years, the platform has gathered following by millions of people across the globe. Psychologists have been worried about the time spent on social media platforms. They believe that this has contributed to social displacement, and individuals are willing to share their private lives virtually instead of investing in face-to-face interactions. Social media usage has significantly affected privacy for information since much information is shared daily (John & Peters, 2017). People take photos of their newborn babies, new cars, houses, and other belongings where they share with friends entailed in the various platforms; hence social media is a great invention but has contributed to wrecking privacy as discussed below.

By sharing images and videos on the platforms, one ends up displaying essential content to predators. In the past, people have ended up getting followed by unknown people who simply utilize data available on Facebook and other sites. For instance, when a person innocently posts a photo showing their newly acquired car while in front of their house, a third party gains this content and can manage to trace the location. They are also aware of the car's color, number plate, and house address, making it easier for a potential criminal to target the person. While such an individual shares the pictures, their intention would be fetching a greater following and likes from friends and acquaintances, but they end up providing critical data to unknown people. In case such a person chooses to withhold the images, few people would become aware of their newly-acquired items, thus withholding their private information.

The challenge of controlling individuals posting images and videos of others without consent has wrecked privacy. When someone is tagged in a video by a friend or an unknown person, the image remains on the platform even though the person who posted it did not ask for permission to proceed with the tag. Once such content is posted on the internet, it becomes difficult permanently deleting it. Today, employers are keen to establish one's social media networks to identify certain aspects that may qualify and disqualify candidates from acquiring a job opportunity. Therefore, various images and messages available on social media platforms can be misinterpreted, causing one to lose a crucial opportunity (Oh, Benenson, Fritz, & Schiele, 2016). On a platform such as Facebook, the user is restricted from viewing people who have previously looked at their profile. This means that it is impossible to trace stalkers who may have bad intentions. Once data has been shared on any social media website, one has no control over who would use it and, in many cases, may end up in the wrong hands of cyberspace criminals.

Upon requesting to create a social media account, the user is required to share essential information. This includes their birth dates, pictures, GPS location, and other aspects which reveal their private data. The intention of sharing such information is to enable one to connect with friends, but many do not question whether it would end up being misused. In case such content is leaked to other applications and users, it plays a significant role in affecting user privacy. The online population is less concerned about reading privacy policies that govern the use and distribution of user information hence stand vulnerable to engaging in practices that jeopardize their privacy.

After deleting content on platforms such as Facebook, the user is not certain whether such information is removed from the servers. This is another privacy concern not addressed in privacy policies for various websites. By deleting pictures, messages, and videos, Facebook provides that some of that content would only be deleted after permanently deleting the account. To support their policy, Facebook states that they save information regarding tags removed to ensure that a person is not re-tagged in the future. However, this policy is not elaborated in the privacy document posing doubt on their integrity (Oh et al., 2016). A user needs to understand how the deleted information may be used, and a lack of information concerning the kept user content creates privacy issues. It shows that someone may utilize data purported to have been deleted; thus, an individual has no control over what has already been shared.

Cyberbullying is a result of a breach of private information. So many people share content with social media users, which give highlights to friends, acquaintances, and unknown users about their private lives. Celebrities are the most vulnerable group since most online users are keen to follow their events and latest updates concerning their music release and other events. While Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram are appropriate platforms to market their products, they knowingly or unknowingly share too much information, thus breaching their privacy. Online users end up with their pictures, videos, and messages portraying critical data. Since there is the freedom to generate posts on social media sites, individuals may create abusive content that tarnishes a person's reputation. When such behaviors are done consecutively, it amounts to cyberbullying affecting a vast population of online users.

Today, there are more than 1.74 billion Facebook users. This is a common platform used by bullies who are more concentrated on acquiring private data. Since the minimum age requirement to join Facebook is 13 years, numerous accounts have been registered by under-aged children. These children are not emotionally and socially mature hence not aware of the consequences of posting crucial messages and pictures. While their objective would be connecting with their school mates and friends, they innocently distribute information through the different platforms which could be used by criminals to conduct child kidnapping. Having created online accounts, it is possible to trace their locations; thus, they no longer live private lives. Statistics indicate that 94% of teenagers in the United States use social media daily and have access to the internet. Also, 71% have reported having multiple accounts making them more vulnerable to exposing content concerning their age, name, location, and date of birth (John & Peters, 2017).

Social media sites have drastically changed the way individuals present information concerning their lives and daily activities. Various people use them to run and market their business, which is an appropriate method of identifying new customers. These sites have benefited business enterprises enabling them to deliver products to numerous customers. Other individuals use them for networking, whereas a majority focuses on updating the accounts with information about their lives. For all these groups, it requires them to share data entailing their names and locations. Business people are the most vulnerable because criminals can obtain their location, robbing them of their commodities, and acquired profits. With the freedom to view one's profile, it becomes easy for criminals to target their victims, indicating a breach of privacy.

OSN (Online Social Network) users are less concerned about their privacy. This means that privacy is linked with a person's perspective on the reason these networks have contributed to the end of privacy. As a person continues to gain more followers and friends on social networks, they lose focus on social privacy. The younger generation feels obligated to follows the actions of their peers and value opinions by friends rather than concentrating on adjusting privacy settings to secure their accounts. For instance, in case one user chooses to change their setting so that all posts are made public, their friends feel pressure to do the same. Conformity to the expectations of other individuals has been a dangerous aspect that has affected user privacy. The younger generation is familiar with settings on social networks. However, they are not keen on privacy even with the knowledge of necessary steps supposed to taken for security purposes. With their previous experiences on the latest technologies, they neglect essential security changes to the platforms (Steinberg, 2016). Therefore, they continuously expose themselves to cyberspace threats brought about by the neglect of privacy issues.

From the above discussion, social networks have contributed to the end of privacy. Previously, people learned about someone's information after one-on-one interactions. However, social media networks have changed the perspective, and a person can obtain information concerning their friends and other parties by clicking on different websites. This means that people no longer hold private information and are willing to share with unknown individuals as a way of running their online social networks. Instead of this platform uniting people, it had ended up alienating them from physical interactions, which are essential factors to living an emotionally healthy life. Sharing disappointments and challenges through the internet expose one's private information and do not help solve the issues at hand. It leads to emotional torture after receiving criticism from OSN users who are less interested in a person's welfare.

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Once such content is posted on the internet, it becomes difficult permanently deleting it. Today, employers are keen to establish one's social media networks to identify certain aspects that may qualify and disqualify candidates from acquiring a job opportunity. Therefore, various images and messages available on social media platforms can be misinterpreted, causing one to lose a crucial opportunity (Oh, Benenson, Fritz, & Schiele, 2016). On a platform such as Facebook, the user is restricted from viewing people who have previously looked at their profile. This means that it is impossible to trace stalkers who may have bad intentions. Once data has been shared on any social media website, one has no control over who would use it and, in many cases, may end up in the wrong hands of cyberspace criminals.

Upon requesting to create a social media account, the user is required to share essential information. This includes their birth dates, pictures, GPS location, and other aspects which reveal their private data. The intention of sharing such information is to enable one to connect with friends, but many do not question whether it would end up being misused. In case such content is leaked to other applications and users, it plays a significant role in affecting user privacy. The online population is less concerned about reading privacy policies that govern the use and distribution of user information hence stand vulnerable to engaging in practices that jeopardize their privacy.

After deleting content on platforms such as Facebook, the user is not certain whether such information is removed from the servers. This is another privacy concern not addressed in privacy policies for various websites. By deleting pictures, messages, and videos, Facebook provides that some of that content would only be deleted after permanently deleting the account. To support their policy, Facebook states that they save information regarding tags removed to ensure that a person is not re-tagged in the future. However, this policy is not elaborated in the privacy document posing doubt on their integrity (Oh et al., 2016). A user needs to understand how the deleted information may be used, and a lack of information concerning the kept user content creates privacy issues. It shows that someone may utilize data purported to have been deleted; thus, an individual has no control over what has already been shared.

Cyberbullying is a result of a breach of private information. So many people share content with social media users, which give highlights to friends, acquaintances, and unknown users about their private lives. Celebrities are the most vulnerable group since most online users are keen to follow their events and latest updates concerning their music release and other events. While Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram are appropriate platforms to market their products, they knowingly or unknowingly share too much information, thus breaching their privacy. Online users end up with their pictures, videos, and messages portraying critical data. Since there is the freedom to generate posts on social media sites, individuals may create abusive content that tarnishes a person's reputation. When such behaviors are done consecutively, it amounts to cyberbullying affecting a vast population of online users.

Today, there are more than 1.74 billion Facebook users. This is a common platform used by bullies who are more concentrated on acquiring private data. Since the minimum age requirement to join Facebook is 13 years, numerous accounts have been registered by under-aged children. These children are not emotionally and socially mature hence not aware of the consequences of posting crucial messages and pictures. While their objective would be connecting with their school mates and friends, they innocently distribute information through the different platforms which could be used by criminals to conduct child kidnapping. Having created online accounts, it is possible to trace their locations; thus, they no longer live private lives. Read More