To Facebook, or Not to Facebook?

This post is in response to Emily Bazelon's article in the NY Times, "Why Facebook is After Your Kids", published October 12, 2011.

Facebook. Why such a fuss about Facebook? Honestly, who really cares about any of this stuff? I'm absolutely positive that not one of my classmates has ever given thought to the subjects discussed in the article, nor did they ever intend to. And I'm almost equally certain that none of them are going to go home tonight and change every last security setting on their profile. It's ridiculous.

Today, my teacher made the comment that he did not assign the article to incite "paranoia"-- with the stipulation that "paranoia" is, by definition, an irrational fear-- but to make us aware of the very enlightening and very alarming realities of the online world. He said that things like public information sharing are things worth fearing.

Not to make him sound irrational, but believing that every little thing you post on the Internet CAN AND WILL be seen/used by anyone and everyone in the world seems a little paranoid to me.

Yes, I do understand that almost everything we post on Facebook is viewable by others ("friends of friends", to be specific), and yes, I do understand that Facebook examines our "likes" and couples them with bits of information or ads that it calculates we might also like. I get it. What I don't get is why that is so scary to some people. Why wouldn't I like to see ads for things that correspond to my interests? I'm not going to go hunting just because I saw an ad for a great deal for hunting rifles on Facebook. (I'm not a big fan of hunting, by the way..) It wouldn't make sense to have advertisements all over my page that have no relevance to my interests. And just a quick note, I don't think that the world revovles around me or even that everyone thinks the same way I do; I'm not delusional.

I also fully understand the idea of a "digital footprint", and that once something is on the Internet it is very, very difficult (if not impossible) to remove. But I don't think that means that there is no such thing as privacy. For example, if you log on to your Facebook account and find the "Privacy Settings" menu, or even the "Security Settings" menu, you will find a dozen different ways that you can control who can view your posts and information. (Once all of your settings are conducive to maintaining your privacy, the worry that advertising companies are stealing your information and using them to their advantage should fade.)

So I guess what I got from the article and from our in-class discussionis a better understanding of the so-called risks of Facebook (namely, broadcasting the details of my life to an audience unknown), or any social-networking website for that matter. I will continue to be conscious of what I post online.