“Your life is being lived in public whether you choose to acknowledge it or not.” Right on, Nussbaum, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Privacy is dead, and there’s no chance of resuscitation. Each click is accounted for, every page view is tracked, and all typed words are archived for, well, as long as the Internet exists. Even in the offline world, data collection, surveillance cameras, and the omnipresent societal eye is always watching. There’s no point in fighting an already lost battle, and the younger generation has begun to understand that notion.
With an “endless stream of daily documentation that is built into the life of anyone growing up today,” privacy online is virtually absent. Online profiles, journals, photo galleries, message boards, and every other technological platform are used, sometimes abused, and never private. However, with great power and technology comes great responsibility (Spiderman, anyone?), and it is up to us to monitor and censor what we choose to upload and share. We must always be aware that what we think is only accessible to our “friends” is really just a public Google search away. We may not like that notion, especially those of the older generation, but this is our time. Technology, social networking, and the gaping black holes of the Internet rule our world, shape our lives, and even determine our fate.
I liked how Nussbaum answered the “why” question of our younger generation sharing with three major changes: 1) we think we have an audience 2) we archive our adolescence 3) our skin is thicker than yours. While my mother may scold me every week, “stop putting those pictures on your Facebook. Why is your full name up there? Do you know how many crazy sicko’s are out there?” she just doesn’t understand. Concern for my safety is inevitable, but I know every bit of info I enter can have its consequences, and I conduct my sharing as if I’m in the constant public view (because, well, I am!) If she knew how to turn a computer on, she would see that.
Anyway, out of the three changes Nussbaum details, I especially connected to and agreed with her first notion – we think we have an audience. We talk, share, write, and behave as if other people are listening or watching, because in some sense, they are. Unfortunately, this detracts from the truthfulness and authenticity of some pages, since we cater to what we think our “viewers” want. We aim to please, to impress, and to get as many “likes” on our witty status as possible. The internet is our stage, and we are the actors. We want your applause, no matter how much we may deny it.
“Without any meaningful standard by which to measure our worth, we turn to the public eye for affirmation.” Chaudhry is right. Whether it’s a poem, video, cooking recipe, or any other digital product we decide to share, we do it in the hopes of receiving (positive) feedback. If someone else likes it, then our self-confidence and worth increase. One of the major ways we achieve this is through pictures. Remember the days of the mirror MySpace angles? Or the horrendous “kissy faces” that are anything BUT sexy? Images are one of the main components of any online profile. It’s what we use to display ourselves, or display what we want others to perceive us as. We use them to judge, and we especially use them to gain some type of social gain, acceptance, or attention. Just last night I spent 3 hours perusing through Facebook photos of the theatrical production I was just in. Why? To tag myself. And why that? So others would see my accomplisment, and hopefully “like” it. The same idea goes for what the article dubbed as “the party-photo phenomenon.” We obsessively take pictures at parties with the sole intention to later share them, in hopes of gaining social rank, popularity, or whatever we’re after.
Nonetheless, it’s not difficult to understand what drives us to compulsively share components of our life that many think we should keep private. But what’s the point of fighting us? Privacy is as outdated as the “jealous” generation that detests our youth’s openness. “The future belongs to the uninhibited.” Hey, we might as well embrace it.
