Is Privacy Worth It?

In this age of social media, it is very common for people to know almost too much about you. From the pictures posted with friends, pictures being tagged with locations, and the updates about plans being shared, something that should be private is shared with more people than we think. But privacy is such a tricky topic. We typically assume that because we don’t live with tiny cameras in the corner of our rooms or that we have passwords on our phones that limit outsiders to the contents within, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is private. I find that social media, even a simple google search, is invading privacy. When we search up something simple, it is normal to assume that we are being tracked. Our information is sold on the daily through whatever website we use, this can be seen as we find ads that are strangely catered to an item we have been looking for or a simple phrase that has been repeated. Is there really a situation in which giving up your privacy is rewarded? I guess not for you, but possibly the companies who profit off of what you think is private. I think it’s hard to dictate how much privacy I’m willing to give up when I have been giving it up unwillingly. From the minute I made my social media journey, my information has been shared, bought even. I think this is okay for me though. My digital footprint has not been as prevalent as most people. I don’t make it known about my whereabouts or who I am friends with, so people can have some knowledge about me. Whatever little privacy I have given already is more than enough without feeling like my whole social security number is accessible, so I would say that is fine.