TED Talk - Blog #8

One main issue discussed is privacy and the idea that your life online is as permanent as a tattoo. Everything that is shared online is permanent and can never be reversed. Once something has been posted it is important to understand that the information you have shared now has the ability to reach thousands of people. This can easily affect me and my family and friends because we live in a digital world today. This means that everyone is constantly sharing everything about their life, from what they ate for breakfast to where they went on vacation. This is a huge privacy issue because everyone is giving so much information to so many people. In many cases, people may believe that they are sharing this information only with “friends”. In reality, this information is being put into the online world and many more people than just your “friends” can easily gain access. This can become dangerous if personal information gets in the hands of stalkers, scammers, or other bad people. It is also essential to understand that everything that is done online can be traced. This means that an employer will be able to go online and do a quick search of your name. That is why it is important to keep your profiles clean and appropriate in order to reduce the risk of unwanted embarrassment in the future.

Moving forward, the government cannot always do much about these privacy issues. These are privately owned social media companies and each consumer has the right to p
ost as they please and what they please. With that being said, it is important for the consumer themselves to put in place certain protocols in order to protect against the invasion of privacy. As social media users, we can monitor our profiles to ensure only people we know are viewing our information. We can also monitor what we are posting and how often we are posting. It is not necessary to post everything we do throughout the day. Another way to ensure privacy is to never use “geo filters” or “geotags” because they allow others on the internet to be able to see your location which, of course, can lead to potential danger. 

Altogether, the world of social media can be a scary place and it is important to understand how to monitor yourself and ensure that you are sharing and posting responsibly.