Personally, I do not like to divulge too much information about my personal life online as I try not to provide too much insight to my personal life, relationships, or whereabouts as you never truly know who is accessing your information or who may be able to see it. I have a Twitter and Facebook page, but both I just use to keep in touch with friends. As Turkle (1999) states, information published on social networking sites is not only available to the people we believe it is accessible to, but organizations have access as well. I do not need or want my private information to be stored indefinitely on the Internet for anyone to know. This is why I choose not to share too much personal or private information on social networking websites as I do not want it to be available to anyone possible on the Internet. Despite the opportunity to use advanced privacy settings with some social networking websites, such as Facebook where you can hide your profile from basically anyone, there are people out there who have the ability to hack into such privacy settings and still access your information. As Albrechtslund (2008) notes, geotagging is an online accessory used throughout various social networking sites which allow members and participants to share where they are exactly, and who they are with. This creates an almost creepy relationship between cyberspace and physical spaces. This presents a serious issue of safety as such an accessory can allow for anyone to know and go exactly where you are.
Furthermore, the Internet and online communications subtracts the need for face-to-face communication and conversation, leaving many teens and adolescents in today's age unable to properly communicate or have a conversation without feeling anxious or panicked as they cannot edit or change what they are saying before it is said. As Sherry Turkle (2012) states, constant digital interaction impedes our capacity for self-reflection. It is when we stumble or hesitate with our words that we reveal ourselves to each other. When conversation is occurring online, such an aspect cannot exist as online participants can edit and change what they say before anything is said at all.
Finally, I believe it is important to note the serious issue that is presented with the relative anonymity of life in cyberspace as one has the choice of being known only by one's chosen "handle" or online name (Turkle, 1999). This allows people online to be whoever they want, and act however they want, even if it is completely irrelevant from who they are and how they present themselves in real-life and conversation. I decided to use this aspect and relate it to my blog topic of mental health, where the issue of cyberbullying can have huge detrimental effects on one's mental health. The anonymous nature of cyberspace allows individuals to present themselves as they want to, which has greatly exacerbated the issue of bullying online (or cyberbullying). Individuals, and specifically youth and adolescents, are able to hide behind the computer screen to protect themselves while verbally harassing and hurting others. Cyberspace has allowed the issue of bullying to transition from a physical, emotional and verbal face-to-face interaction to online emotional and verbal abuse. Face-to-face interaction obviously involves knowing the perpetrator and victim, where as cyberspace can allow for the perpetrator to remain anonymous, leaving the victim to feel even more alone and as though no one may believe them. In order to combat such a serious issue, adults must be involved in their children's online interactions and must have a sound understanding of issues relating to cyberspace such as surveillance, privacy and anonymity.
References:
Albrechtslund, A. (2008) "Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance." First Monday. 13,3
Cyberspace and Identity Sherry Turkle Contemporary Sociology Vol. 28, No. 6 (Nov., 1999), pp. 643-648
http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.brocku.ca/stable/pdfplus/2655534.pdf?acceptTC=true
Places we don’t want to go: Sherry Turkle at TED2012
http://blog.ted.com/2012/03/01/places-we-dont-want-to-go-sherry-turkle-at-ted2012/
Hi Rebecca, I am the same as you. I am very protective about what I share out in cyberspace. It is a really creepy thought that your life can be tracked by people through your online activities. Cyberbullying is a real problem among youth today and has been linked to the cause of many suicides among young people as we have seen in the news. This is a relatively new phenomenon and a very sad result of technological advancement. I also agree with your point of people losing the ability for personal conversation. I would also like to add that youth in society today are also losing their ability for written communication. It is okay to spell incorrectly online, but this practice continues to have far reaching effects on all written communication.
ReplyDeleteRebecca, I agree that cyberbullying has become a serious issue. Because people feel they are anonymous they are more willing to make rude comments, or harass others. Even when they do not know the other person, some people think they can be bullies because they have a different name online, so no one will know that they left that comment. This seems especially prevalent on sites such as Youtube, where people comment on videos of others from around the world. Growing up I learned to have a certain level of respect, but with many young people today, because they can hide behind a user name and keyboard, there seems to be a serious lack of respect for others. To have mature adults that can function in society, there needs to be respect, and an end to cyberbullying.
ReplyDeleteI have also limited myself to what I post on Facebook because you really don't know who is viewing your profile and you definitely don't want to put something on their that may cause you trouble later in the future. Geotagging is such a safety hazard, I have a friend that posts everything she does. Facebook gives you the option if your tagged in these posts to put it on your profile or not. I usually don't post them on my profile but I do for some. If i was to post my whereabouts I usually wait a day or two before accepting those pending notifications about my whereabouts. I also wrote about cyber bullying and the serious effects it has to a youths health. When people explore their personas and become someone else they have the ability to hurt other people online. I liked your point that adults should be interacting with children when using online social networks but also teaching youth and educating them from school will help for those parents that don't use or know how to use the internet.
ReplyDeleteMy stance on geotagging is that if someone really wants to know where you are (providing that it is an individual who has the right to know, i.e. a friend) they will just ask you! I most definitely agree with you that this creates a creepy relationship. The fact that the internet has the ability to edit what someone says takes away a very important human quality and makes it very unnatural. It is very easy to misunderstand someone online when you take away human interaction and nuances in a message. I think that youth are lacking social skills and communication skills that will have many consequences in the future. You are right that cyberbullying can leave the victim feeling alone with no one to turn to. I work with kids age 10-18 and it was not until I found a child lying on a bathroom floor balling her eyes out that I knew she was being bullied online and kept it a secret from everyone.
ReplyDeleteHi Rebecca, I like how you related the aspect of face-to-face conversations with youth. I never thought of it this way before, but I guess technology at a younger age could be a bad thing. I never had a cell phone until I was 16, however in today’s world I see children barely 10 years of age with cells phone, iPads and more, accessing cyber space. When I was that age I would play outside with friends, explore forests and play games. Frankly I am worried that kids today aren’t engaging in the same outdoor, social activities that we once did. I think it is important for youngsters to engage with fellow peers so that they can build relationships, trust, empathy and much more social skills required to succeed in the future. However, all this “needing to connect” may reduce these valuable opportunities, leaving children scared to interact with real-life people.
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