Privacy in the digital age

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When we think of privacy, we think of the secrets and information we keep to ourselves and among friends.

However with social media, we've been given a weird middle ground, in which we can write as though it's a space for our most private thoughts, but can be seen by anyone with access to your social media account.

It wasn't uncommon when I was in high school or even now in college for something to happen, and everyone at school would say "did you see what she posted on Facebook last night?" as the most basic grounds of evidence in people's personal lives.

In this week's class work, we talked about how civil inattention plays a role in social media. Civil inattention is the way in which we don't listen in on conversations and join the conversations of people we do not know when we're in a public place, a restaurant for example. Social media is a bit different. Because we've elected to follow certain people, we see their things on our timelines in an aggregated form.

For example, Twitter is a fairly popular social media site for conversation. Small clips of conversation is a breeding ground for shoving other people's content in our faces.

For example, I've chosen to follow a friend I grew up with. We went to high school together, we did the same after school activities together, and now that we're both in college, we're separated and leading different lives. Every now and then I'll see her post a vague tweet on Twitter. She's annoyed with someone and is sharing it with everyone who follows her, possibly including the person who caused it.

Because of the way Twitter works, her tweet shows up in my timeline. Say, by the time I see it, people have already replied to it, favorited it, and retweeted it. In this example, maybe the person she's upset with is another person I follow. Now I'm seeing a conversation between the two or the post-fall out discussion between each girl and her circle of friends on my timeline.

By simply having a Twitter account and following people I know and am friends with, I'm forced into their conversation without a choice. I don't have the luxury of civil inattention without keeping the app on my phone shut completely.

If this were to happen in real life, maybe the two would have some kind of verbal argument. The only witnesses would be the people around at the time. On Twitter not only is a private conversation made public for the world to see, but also is a digital footprint where people can go back and see the tweets after the fight is over. It really redefines our privacy online and how we conduct ourselves with other people.

For example, we feel the need to express our feelings online. Excited about a mark on a test? Post it. Just got offered a new job? Post it. Mad at your coworker? Post it. Ended your long term relationship? Post it.

It's taking the most private matter of our lives and sharing them with close friends and family members around us. This is why what we define as being private is shifting.