Social media and technology have become almost as essential to some humans as their shoes or car keys are. The boundary between a public versus private life has become blurred because of the impact of social media and technological advancements in surveillance. This shift has caused an effect in how information can be spread and shared, how humans navigate life, and how privacy has become almost non-existent in the present time.
To some people, the government is always spying on us. Those people are accurate. Social media surveillance explains why ads of some of our favorite products constantly pop up on our devices. Companies and the government have data collections of our online behaviors simply from what we interact with on social media. If you’ve ever been asked about cookies on a website, this is exactly what that means.
Nobody in the past would have guessed that these technological advancements would lead to identity troubles and societal interactions. Trying to make yourself seem better than you are is how some people live their lives on social media. Building a false persona has given a rise to a multitude of identity and mental disorders for society. Those people have no ability to distinguish between their real and fake life as they try to merge them into one.
Sharing simple moments such as taking out the trash or driving a car has given rise to a concern for the amount of privacy society has. Personal moments that were once kept private have given rise to the question of “How much privacy do we really have left?”. Everyone knows that once something is posted, it is going to be on the internet forever. Therefore, this has led to public shaming with resurfaced images or posts that people have made. Sharing your whereabouts with the public is another example of privacy becoming obsolete. This can be useful in emergency situations, but it has also been known to lead to dangerous ones.
“Social Media Surveillance.” Freedom House, freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-on-the-net/2019/the-crisis-of-social-media/social-media-surveillance. Accessed 31 Aug. 2024.
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