Social Media Destroyed Privacy

People giving up their privacy on the internet via social networking sites has turned into a terrifying trend.

In today’s technology-dependent era, the lack of privacy is rapidly becoming a serious issue. With the existence of companies like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, not much of our privacy is left.

In this day and age, any company can track our personal information if we just visit their website. Although most websites have a “terms and conditions” document they advise you to read before signing up, how many of us do read those documents? At this point, it seems we keep signing away our privacy because we are too lazy to read 600 words of terms and conditions.

In addition to companies like Twitter and Instagram that have millions of people’s personal information accessible to them at the tip of their fingers, we have ourselves to blame for the diminishing of privacy as we know it. People have become too willing to capture every private act on a camera, then publish it online on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat, for the entire world to see. Thus, people should be aware that what they choose to put out there is out there forever. Even if you delete something you previously posted, chances are a search engine already has it saved.

Furthermore, I believe that another reason why privacy has become more of an illusion in today’s world is because people have become too comfortable when it comes to sharing details of their lives with their social-networking ‘friends list.’ Just because you follow someone online, and they follow you back, that does not make them trustworthy enough to know where you live, what car you drive, where you work, and what is your favorite hangout spot on weekends.

Unfortunately, we have reached a point where we are unaware of how much personal information we are displaying for the world to see. Choosing to live a private life has become nearly impossible while posting on different social networking sites. To gain full privacy, you’ll probably have to give up on the internet as a whole. The fact that in the coming few years, everything we use from home appliances to vehicles will be interconnected with social media makes it even more difficult to keep our personal lives private.

Even though it is clear that we have traveled too far from the road to regain privacy, I believe that individuals deserve privacy in today’s world. We have a right to enjoy using modern technology without the fear of losing our privacy. Online companies need to do a better job at offering options to people, to make sure each individual chooses who can access their information, and the type of information they want to share. And as social networking sites users, we need to always remember that in today’s digital world, everything we do or share online stays out there forever.