Until our class discussion, I had never really thought about how "findable" we are as a society. Not only that, but the fact that we bring it upon ourselves and often complain about it is what is even more baffling. With the growing technology such as Droids and iPhones, as well as social networking sites such as Facebook, we make ourselves almost 100% accessible to other people. For example, I myself just downloaded an app on my iPhone called "Loopt." It's similar to the "check in" feature on Facebook. The user can say where they are, and view a map of areas as large as the entire country and see where other users are at all times. The check in feature on Facebook has a very like purpose. Personally, I check myself in almost everywhere I go, including home. Why exactly am I doing this, I don't really know. I don't think anyone is really that interested in where I am, what I'm doing, and who I'm with. However, there are those that could in fact be interested in just that. Why do we broadcast our lives and leave ourselves vulnerable to just about anything? Below is a link showing the more positive sides of "Facebook Places."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfX_ZQag1BM
So sure, the creators of this 'awesome' feature are of course are going to sell this it as if it's the greatest thing to ever arrive on Facebook or the Internet alone. However, if you take the time to read the comments below the video, clearly some of the users have a much different view of the new feature. Here are some of my person favorites:
"Hey they just started dinner at a restaurant in town! Let's rob their house!"
"My Stalker is gonna love this!"
"Check in = please rob me"
"You guys are f****** retards!! there is no way in hell that I'll broadcast to the world that i am out of my house so that they can come and rob me! This is outright invasion of privacy.. F****** loosers who want to shout online.. because nobody would care to listen to them in person in the first place.. too much information!! these b******* have watched the movie "Serendipity" too much.. they think they're freaking John Cusack!!! facebook= 1 step to 666 !!!"
(sorry for this commenter's profanity!)
I am not saying that I personally view these features and apps as bad things. I would be a hypocrite if I said they were. However, I think anyone who uses them, myself included, should really think about the information we're releasing. Because as I mentioned before, we often times bring dangerous situations upon ourselves.
Why do we choose to make ourselves so findable? Out of thrill? Out of enjoyment? Out of boredom? I cannot even really answer that question for myself!! Will I stop using these applications? No, probably not. Will I take some responsibility if I'm later stalked or robbed? Possibly.
I agree with a lot of the comments the people put under the youtube video. I feel that people have a false sense of protection if something is on the internet due to the fact that it is not tangible. No one would go around taping up fliers with their personal information on them, but people are more than willing to post private information on the internet. I feel that a lot of people are unsafe internet users due to the lack of education. the internet seemed to be something that was thrown at us and no one was there to teach proper etiquette. Unfortunately it takes something extreme like identity theft or stalking to raise awareness of the possible harms.
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