Blog Post 5: Dangers of the Internet

Privacy is a big issue that society faces in the current age of media. Today's technologies and social medias use much of our information for "personalized experiences". In fact, after recent apple updates, many apps will now ask to track your data to ensure that they can tailor the advertisements you see to you. But where else is this collection of data being stored and used and how long have they been doing this prior to sending out an alert asking for permission to?

After watching the TED Talks on privacy, I found myself doing exactly what the prompt suggested; freaking out. The first Ted talk mentioned the concept of electric tattoos and brought up how the internet is giving us mortality without our own intentions behind it. The presenter says our information will live on long after our bodies. To me, this adds to the eeriness and pressures behind social media and the internet. Things that we might not even have intended to be on there will now be there longer than we may ever know. I was very spooked by this thought.

The first presenter stuck out to me most, despite his presentation being just 5 minutes long. His analogies to greek mythology were quite interesting and striking. The points he connected with them were also stuck out to me. One point he brought up was the warning to be careful not to look too far into the ones you love on the internet specifically, or you might lose sight of who they really are to you. I felt that this was an important analogy to the greek god looking at his loved one prematurely, and loosing her all together. He emphasized how much of an effect a digital footprint has on lives and relationships. 

Another analogy he made had to do with the goddess Atalanta and her races. He associated the golden apples that are thrown as distractions to tabloids and the false nature of the media. I took this analogy to mean to keep an eye out for these golden apples and to ensure that these distractions don't keep you from reaching your ultimate goals, whatever they may be. However, it is very hard to avoid and you will probably get trapped by them. I feel avoiding any distractions thrown your way by the media are often in your face and many end up falling victim to creating these false narratives themselves. I think it is also very hard to constantly remind yourself to stray these narratives, but the dangers of the internet are always hovering around you.

With the internet, your information is everywhere to the point it is hard to even escape your own reality or one that may have been fabricated by the media. As it gets more and more common for internet stars to rise, it also becomes harder and harder to avoid becoming one yourself. Your information is out there no matter what and the only way to avoid the dangers that come with the information spread on the internet is to both be very careful with what you put out there, because that, at least, can be controlled. 

Privacy isn’t about having something to hide, but instead, it’s about having the right to keep things to ourselves. In a world where data is currency, we need to treat our personal information like gold. Because once it’s out there, we can’t get it back.