Your task for this assignment is to record your thoughts on the prevalence of social networking. How often do you use social networking sites/tools like Facebook, Twitter, or FourSquare? How much time to do you spend texting, tweeting, or checking status updates on your phone or computer?
Do you think the cultural move toward social networking, constant access, and the loss of privacy it sometimes brings about is a positive/negative trend on the whole? What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of this entanglement between our personal lives and technology? Have you ever "over-shared" or texted, tweeted, or posted something you have regretted? Do you ever worry about your privacy when it comes to using these tools?
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While I don't use Twitter or FourSquare, I use Facebook every day.
I imagine being more mindful about it influenced to me browse Facebook less often, but I recorded 32 instances of clicking on my Facebook icon in my Firefox browser. That said, it's still far too many.
Every time I have an idle minute online, I'll default to checking my Facebook for status updates, wall posts, or other content of interest my friends have linked. While these sessions typically don't last for more than a few minutes at any given time throughout the day, they are intermittent and absolutely a distraction. If my mind wanders even a bit, I find myself on Facebook. I have a similar habit of looking at the Wikipedia random page and then clicking unfamiliar links from there.
I have yet to "over-share," although it wont stop my friends from doing it on my behalf through Facebook tagging, or simply using my computer to post status updates. I might delete posts like this, but I'm aware that the information is essentially there forever, and can be available to those who care enough to dig it up. Because of this, I never post anything potentially embarassing or questionable. Your online reputation is very easily trackable, and some websites specialize in congregating data attached to your name and selling it (e.g. http://www.spokeo.com/). Privacy is definitely a concern.
This might not be the local IP.
The technology, in particular, software, is being packaged so conveniently that individuals with no significant computer knowledge (read: script kiddies) can steal identities over unsecured networks with software like Firesheep (http://www.pcworld.com/article/209333/how_to_hijack_facebook_using_firesheep.html). It is really easy to do this, making places like internet cafes or Starbucks suspect locations for identity theft. As a response, Facebook recently instituted full HTTPS support (read more here), protecting all information transferred on Facebook.com, should users choose to activate it. Denial of service programs (LOIC) make antisocial activity similarly easy, although they might need to organize others to attack websites. On the other hand, inexperienced users are prone to revealing their own information in the process to more tech-savvy users.
Care should be taken to retain anonymity through IP routing or proxy servers. Again, this process has been simplified for casual users (Tor). The language I've used might sound foreign, but this is all very straight forward for any user who is a bit interested and has fifteen minutes to kill. The simplification of complex software for the user-end is practical, bridging the divide between those who know and whose who don't. Blogger itself is an example of an a simplified user interface, so users unfamiliar with HTML can share and format their thoughts easily. Users should take care to understand the limitations of anonymity and the software they use.
I see the cultural move toward social networking and constant access as a relatively neutral cultural change. That is, there are positive and negative aspects, as with all mediums of communication developed. The medium itself isn't inherently bad or good, but the uses can be. For example, newspapers have been used to traffic information to a broad populace in western countries. This is a service to society. On the other hand, political mudslinging mudslinging in the 19th century used newspapers as a medium, which, arguably, is unacceptable by today's standards. Nonetheless, these trends continue on the Internet. The medium is faster, and anyone can have a say. On one hand, information is freely shared and given instantly. On the other, uninformed populations can have a wide net of influence due to computer networking.
I really enjoyed reading your post. I thought that it gave a lot of insight into ways in which we can be more secure with the information we have on the web. I really appreciated the fact that you included so many references and links, all of which helped me understand your post better. I find it interesting how there are a lot of third party websites (instead of Facebook itself) telling us about how we can be more careful with our Facebook accounts.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we have to be more careful with our online presence, and I feel that we should all try to spend some time to learn more about how computers, networks, and programs work.
After all, our world is becoming increasingly more technology-based. I feel that it is important to be in the loop of the knowledge that goes behind the types of technology we use everyday.
I really enjoyed this post. I like how you bring up positive and negative aspects of the internet. It is true privacy can be an issue, which is scary, but more technology is hepful at the same time. I also enjoy how you post interesting images of your blogs. You gave some good points and options of how to protect one's privacy on the internet.
ReplyDelete