Privacy

In my previous blog "TMI" (too much information) I touched on the fact that we often post and upload everything we do that day. Privacy has a little to do with that, however in this blog I am going to talk about how we can protect ourselves, not just from others but even from ourselves.

Have you ever posted or uploaded something and the minute after doing so you thought, "I can't post that! I need to go delete it before someone sees." Usually, it is something you do not want a certain person(s) to find out. Besides the few mess ups of posting and uploading things we quickly take down, we control what people know about us or what pictures or videos they see of us.

I should warn you, if you do not already know accounts that you have set for only people that are friends with you, specifically facebook, sometimes are changed to public without you consent. I constantly check my settings for my Facebook to make sure that the things I post, personal or not, can not be seen by strangers or unwanted audience.

It is easy to keep the things you wish to be private when the only person you have to worry about posting or uploading something is yourself, but that is not always the case. Have you ever got online and saw you were tagged in a post/picture/video that you did not want others to see? It has personally happened to me on more than one occasion. One particular instance I did not want to hang out with certain group of  friends, so I lied about what I was going to do that day. Only to have my real plans posted on my wall and tagged in a photo revealing my true location. I was busted by my friend via Facebook. I should not have to constantly think about what I am doing and keeping it off the internet, but how can I not when both worlds are intertwined the way they are. So now I let my friends know not to tag or post things in order to keep my "real" life off the internet. These are some slip ups here and there but I understand it is hard not to tag friends in a post especially if what you are doing is awesome!

I do not mind if people get information about me online, but the things I do mind I delete. For instance, a month ago I realized that my phone number and address were on my Facebook. I thought to myself, "why does this need to be posted?" Maybe making our numbers and addresses private is a good thing. If someone wants to know that information they can ask, and if they don't feel comfortable asking than I guess they don't need to know.

The purpose of this blog is for you to think about your own privacy issues, not necessarily separate the two, "real" life and virtual, but to be cautious and better protect yourself. I mean, you don't want your boss or teacher to find out that you went partying the night before or tubing when you said you were sick! It is your responsibility to make sure your privacy is protected, even if that means reading your friends the riot act!