Disappearance of Our Privacy

This is a picture that represent the idea that our privacy is gone.

In the past, the word technology referred to the practical arts that were used in creating tangible material products such as garment manufacturing, car tires, and steam engines. However, this concept evolved in the twentieth century to include all matters that meet the humans needs and wants. Science has made impressive and accelerating progress, especially in recent years that has opened the way for communication to spread in all regions of the world without exception, specifically, social media. Additionally, Odell mentions that there are significant impacts of technological development on human life and the development of societies. Therefore, this essay argues that social media steal our privacy.

There is a basic observation, which is that Internet sites have eliminated the idea of ​​”privacy”. Social media sites that people think are an ideal world in which people interact with others, exchange pictures, and share details of their daily lives is now are becoming a way to steal their privacy. For example, Facebook knows what you like to read, what you like to buy, and more by analyzing the sites that you visit. Odell pointed out that technology and social media has great influence on our lives that causes many of us to be addicted to it. For example, when we watch a clip-on YouTube, the YouTube recommendation system begins suggesting videos that may be of our interest. They recommend the videos based on the available information in YouTube’s recommendation system. This applies to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others. Thus, we spend our time on it. One day, my friend and I were talking about a public figure, and we read the character’s page on Facebook, but from my friend’s phone. Minutes later. I found a suggestion on my page to add the same character. I was shock to see in on my page, but after I read about the data algorithms and how they are used, it makes a lot more sense to me how these sites work.

So, how does companies make use of our information. There are three main ways they collect information. First way, social media sites collect data and information from the user’s accounts such as their date of birth, gender, address, etc. the information they search for. Second way, they keep track of what type of information you search for. Third way, they look at what type of videos you frequently watch. After collecting this information through one of these ways, they basically use them for commercial or advertising purposes. Which mean that social media sites offer free access to their site and features to make billions of dollars through using the user’s private information. What happens next is that they use the data, to attract people who will be more likely to buy certain products. For example, if a company that sales baby clothes wants to put their product on market, they would pay apps such as Facebook or Instagram to advertise for the product. These sites will use the information they have about the users and filer out what type of audience they should show the product ad to. In other words, who is more likely to buy the product. Then, when social media site put the product advertisement, they recommend it for users who are pregnant or female because they are more likely to buy it. Which shows that the idea of privacy in social media does not exist anymore. Everything we do in social media is being watched and sold.

The idea of stealing our privacy to make money brings back Odell’s argument about the attention of the economy. The concept of being productive all the time by our excessive use of social media that is stealing our privacy. According to Odell’s book how to do nothing resisting the attention economy,

“This book is a version of an essay I wrote in the spring following the 2016 election, about a personal state of crisis that led me to the necessity of doing nothing. In that chapter I begin to identify some of my most serious grievances with the attention economy, namely its reliance on fear and anxiety, and its concomitant logic that “disruption” is more productive than the work of maintenance — of keeping ourselves and others alive and well. Written in the midst of an online environment in which I could no longer make sense of anything, the essay was a plea on behalf of the spatially and temporally embedded human animal; like the technology writer Jaron Lanier, I sought to “double down on being human”(introduction).

The fact that we always must be productive either at school, work, social media creates a great pressure on people. People must be productive all the time. Basically, people activities are potentially economic, and all experiences framed as capital for the individual as entrepreneur. Ironically, this pressure comes from our use of social media that I supposedly platform for entertainment.

Even when we are supposedly receiving entertaining, social media uses our activities analyze our believes. After analyzing social media can use it to force other ideas on us. For example, A data analysis company collected private information on more than 50 million Facebook users for the election campaign of US President Donald Trump in 2016. What happened here is that Facebook started using our information to change our opinion on the 2016 elections. It is crazy how social media is shaping our opinions and believes. People are not giving the time to think for themselves they are always must be productive all the time. Through using our profile information, social media activities aim to keep us productive.

Here are some tips that we can do to protect at what is left of our privacy that lead to the economy attention. First, do not post too much personal information. Do not post any information regarding your home address, bank account, daily routine, and schedule. Second, take advantage of the privacy settings on the social media sites. Read the privacy policy of each social platform and use the privacy and security settings to control who can always see your personal information. Third, Beware of strange accounts. Social media is filled with thousands of fake personal profiles, most of which are managed by cybercriminals with deceptive motives. Therefore, it is always best to be careful when interacting with strangers and avoid them as much as possible. Fourth, beware of links. avoid clicking on links in messages, tweets, posts, and online ads. These could be links to viruses or other forms of content. Fifth, use a strong and complex password. It is better not to use a single password for all your social media accounts. The best practice is to use different sets of passwords for different accounts. Always use complex passwords that include alphabets, numbers, and signs. Finally, do not link your accounts to untrusted apps. Many websites and apps give you the option to “log in with Facebook”, instead of creating a separate account. By doing so, your social network may share all the information it holds about you, including your date and place of birth, email address, job details, along with photos.

In conclusion, one of the main reasons that led to the development of technology is the Internet. Internet enables users to access any information and reach anyone else in the world. The Internet led the way to the creation of many applications that differ in their forms and purposes. These social media sites is stealing our privacy in exchange of temporarily entertainment.

Reference

Odell, J. (2019). How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. Melville House.

Trust in the social media world — Tick Yes Blog. (n.d.). October 10, 2020.