Whether you view these stories as horrors or comedy’s they do undoubtedly impart wisdom and provide us with some sort of lesson. But how do we identify what that lesson is?
Privacy on social network sites is a topic that is rapidly heating up. The “who owns all of the data and what are they going to do with it?” question is a popular one. But there is also the question of how the information we share will impact upon us in the long run. What are the adverse effects of our 300 drunken photos that we’re tagged in on Facebook? Who is going to read our angry twitter ranst and what are they going to think?
I read an article recently entitled “Google and the Search for the Future” and in it Google CEO Eric Schmidt predicted “that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends' social media sites.”
This is a very interesting prediction and has particular relevance to generation Z, who are in the unfamiliar situation of growing up immersed within the world of social media. This was the vain of some of the questions posed at the recent Auckland Google Barcamp, and the topic fuelled a very interesting discussion.
One viewpoint was that of the concerned parent and/or teacher. These people were horrified at some of the information their kids (some as young as 7) were sharing via facebook. Their concern was centred round the inability for some kids - and subsequently their parent’s - to fully understand the implications of social networking privacy. To put it bluntly, they felt that a lot of the personal information being shared was grossly inappropriate and had the potential to be harmful both in the short and long term.
An opposing view put forth the idea of perception, and how in 10-20 years when generation Z are in the position a lot of us are in now then the drunken facebook photos and angry rants of their youth will be dismissed as commonplace as everyone will be in the same boat. More specifically these so-called inappropriate photos and statuses will be perceived as normal.
Which begs the question; how much of our online privacy concerns come down to differencing perceptions?
Are we concerned that our personal information is available to be seen, or are we concerned about the people that can potentially see it and how they will perceive it?
I WANT TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS!! Throw some opinion around!
