As you know by now, I'm a little "slow" in the uptake, sometimes.
One of the great "mysteries" that has baffled me for better than 20 years is this notion of "privacy" and "anonymity" in social media.
Color me stupid, but if you're a "privacy hound," obsessed with not divulging who you are, and now wanting anyone to know anything about you... WHY exactly are you participating in SOCIAL media which is (essentially) centered around sharing everything about yourself with the entire world?
Could be that I am missing the point, but from here that sounds most of all like what you really want is the "freedom" to be a troll without any consequences!
Maybe that sounds a bit overboard, but there's something about the juxtaposition of wanting to be extremely outspoken... but ONLY if nobody knows who you are... that reeks of a certain flavor of "intellectual cowardice."
It's SOCIETY, Stupid!
"Come on! You know perfectly well that there are a lot of things that are outright DANGEROUS to talk about!"
Yes, I'm well aware of that... and of course part of the problem we face here is that we live in a world where "speaking your truth" can actually be dangerous. What kind of world is this, that differing opinions cannot coexist? And I'm definitely not talking about people who are part of the Witness Protection Program and such!
So, the call for privacy.
And yet? That same call for privacy is really a double-edged sword because you're afforded anonymity from which to disseminate your particular thought platform... are you not really asking for a "safe space" in which to have "opinions without consequences," and hence being given a free pass from having to be personally accountable for the sounds coming out of your face?
I Want to HAVE my Cake and EAT it, Too!
Well, don't we all?
When I look out across my list of friends and contacts from the past 30 years or so, it seems to me there are two distinctly different kinds of privacy hounds out there.
The ones who are privacy hounds "in name only," and the ones who actually are very protective about their privacy.
The ones who really don't want you to know who and where they are? They are effectively invisible, and they are certainly nowhere near Facebook, twitter, Instagram or any other kind of social media.
There are no photos, no links, no profiles... and their names don't even come up in any online searches, except maybe as a third-party mention (Betty Sue Anderson was one of the guests at my wedding).
I have at least three old friends like that... they simply do not exist on the web, unless you're subscribed to one of those legal databases you have to pay $24.95 per inquiry for, and all you'll get is an address and possibly a phone number.
If what you really want is actual privacy, that's what you do.
But wanting "to be part of the game" but not be subject to the general way the game WORKS? I just can't get that to make sense.
But then again, there's nothing "common" about sense!
Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your week!
How about YOU? What do YOU think "privacy" really means? Does SOCIAL media and PRIVACY sound like a bit of a contradiction? If you have chosen to be active on social media, haven't you pretty much GIVEN UP your privacy? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20220629 01:07 PDT
0599/1845