Social Networking and Privacy

I have to say, I was quite determined at the beginning of this school year to keep my Facebook deactivated. Having done so, I was always a day ahead in homework. I slept before midnight every day, and I was able to keep up a healthy exercise schedule. Unfortunately, I began to realize the pitfalls of being socially disconnected from the rest of the world. Club events were always broadcasted through Facebook. RSVP's were always done through Facebook. And sadly as a commuter, much of my social life depended on Facebook. Thus, I reluctantly reactivated my Facebook, hoping, and somewhat praying, that my time management schedule would not completely fall apart...

And two rounds of midterms and one trip to Portland later, my perfectly outlined schedule was blown to pieces.

I think the most mind-boggling and frustrating aspect is just how time consuming Facebook is compared to other social networking sites like Tumblr and Twitter. The minute Facebook reentered the picture, time spent on the computer tripled, worsening the already distracting and unproductive state of being glued to Apple products all day.

It really makes you wonder what makes Facebook so addicting?
What makes it so much more appealing than Tumblr?

Since my return to Facebook, the frequency of my use of social networking sites has increased exponentially. I often catch myself refreshing various sites aimlessly, idling while I wait for new notifications to appear. I find that the social networking sites increase my desire to share my thoughts and opinions with the rest of the world. I wonder if this is because the certainty of having a guaranteed audience motivates a person to open up about their daily lives.

Despite the obvious negative effect of social networking sites on detracting students from their studies, I think it's difficult to completely write off these sites as good or bad. It really depends on the user. Social networking sites do an amazing job connecting people from around the globe and keeping them up to date with news from other countries. For example, I've been using Facebook recently to keep up with updates from my favorite Taiwanese celebrities. It's hard for me to get ahold of a Chinese newspaper everyday. Harder still to track down the specific articles I would like to read. It's also just as hard for me to schedule my life around the nightly broadcast of Chinese news on TV. Facebook thus makes it accessible and convenient for me to keep up with current news. I suppose as usual the biggest downside is how time-consuming and distracting the process of keeping up with these celebrities various fan pages can be. I would like to say that, for me, anything concerning Chinese is, in a sense, productive because I'm practicing reading comprehension...but I think it's on a whole, still far more distracting than beneficial.

As for social networking sites and privacy, I think the fact social networking sites encourage and motivate people to share about their personal lives, to a certain extent, leads to the loss of privacy. But in all honesty, this greatly varies from user to user. Some people use the internet responsibly, others spill their heart and soul for the whole world to see. I think another negative effect of social networking sites is how it facilitates the increase of spam and viruses. Many ignorant users will unknowingly click on spam links that result in the download of various viruses, etc. Bugs such as key loggers can easily steal important personal information. Hackers could easily develop and plant viruses that track and archive browsing history of unaware victims.

From my own experience, I often find that online blogging often leads to the tendency of over-sharing personal experiences and problems. I think it's easy to forget that while online blogs have the same functions as a diary, the major difference is that online blogs are meant to be publicly shared, while personal diaries are locked away and hidden away from friends and peers. Because of the convenience and social networking aspect of online blogs, it's easy to be lured into signing up and one day forget that an angry rant or overly personal post can be viewed by anyone if the necessary precautions are not taken.

I believe the easiest way to avoid the issues and gray lines of privacy and social networking is to always be aware of what you're posting on sites. If it's a blog, I would never publish posts immediately. If it's Facebook, I would never post things my parents or future employer would disapprove of.

It's just a matter of being consciously aware of your actions and their consequences.