Final Post
Technology’s relationship with Us
Is the world we live in bad? Are we safe? These are the two questions that I keep thinking about after learning about the safety of our personal information. It’s the first time I have realized that our data is out there for everyone to see. Like the rest of the world, I am attached to my phone, and when I watched the Moby video, I thought it was on point because that is what we all look like. We eat, sleep and drink with our phones, and every time we google something or post a picture, that information is being stored for the government to see. Reflecting on the advancements in technology, do the advances out weight the safety concerns. If you surveyed a hundred people on whether they would give up technology to maintain their privacy, I would guess that 100 percent would not give up their phones.
When I was in middle school, my best friend stole my mothers’ email address and used my name to open a Facebook account. My mother at the time was not on FB, nor was I. She posted timelines pretending it was me and saying horrible things to people. She friended people I was not friends with, nor would I be. I forgot all about it until I googled myself, and it brought up that account. I was happy and relieved to see that not much is on there. Pintrest showed what I was looking at, and Google brought up engineering books that my grandfather wrote for colleges. Interesting that they linked me to my grandfather. Overall, I have a clean image when people google my name.
For others, there is so much information that they put out there or that their family members and friends do. After reading the article, I’m 14, and I quit social media https://www.fastcompany.com/90315706/kids-parents-social-media-sharing, I began digging into my mother’s account to make sure that she didn’t have pics of me that I would be embarrassed by.
I searched my friend’s Instagram and Facebook to make sure the posts that they have of me were clean. This is another level of privacy that most people do not think about. You might be careful about what you post, but a family member or friend might post something that you do not approve of. You want to trust family and friends, but you might want to tell them to ask permission next time they post a picture of you. “Surely, users know that Facebook uses information about their behaviors and friendships to deduce a constantly updating list of their interests. This detailed information about people constitutes Facebook’s competitive advantage: If it knows what people like, it can put ads in front of them that are likely to result in purchases”https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/facebook-users-still-dont-know-how-facebook-works/580546/. This shows me that not only do we need to be careful about things we post about ourselves but every swipe of the key tells Facebook new information about us.
I do not feel that technology has impacted me in negative ways. It could, but going forward, I will keep myself as safe as possible. What I do like about technology is the communication that it allows us to have. You have facetime which will enable you to communicate and see the other person. For friends that are far away, I use snap chat to take a picture and send it. Snap Chat says it goes away instantly, but people need to know that everything is stored in the cloud. Another reason to think before you post.
This summer, I was fortunate enough to get an internship in the field of strategic communications. I have had many part-time jobs, but this was my first professional job. I know now that he didn’t find anything negative about me when the owner searched the web. I am on social media like millions of other people, but I have been educated and intelligent enough to know what to put on and what not to. We live in a highly advanced world that can work to our advantage and get us into trouble. People need to understand that everything is public, and if you want something to stay private, then leave it off social media and put your phone down. It will keep you safer in the long run.
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