Privacy in Social Media

As a teenager, I feel a bit obligated to join social networks since most of my peers and friends are members of some. I, myself, am a member of a lot of social media websites. The main reason I have a numerous amount of social media accounts is because it's an easy way to communicate, receive and give information, and it provides entertainment. They're a good place to talk about my opinions and feelings to people who might have the same views. Social media also keeps me up to date with news about my favourite celebrities, upcoming films, local news and events, sports, what's happening in school, and whatever is trending around the world. They provide a simple and fast way to send messages to anyone in anywhere.

In social networks, there are privacy settings where members can change who can see their profiles, posts, and tweets. For most of my social network accounts, anyone can look at my page. I usually post about my interests, like TV shows and films, or about my views and feelings. I've never really thought too hard about what I put on the internet because I know that most of the people who look at my pages are my friends or people who are in the same age group as me, I never post about which I school I go to, or where I live. I sometimes tweet where I'm going but I don't get too specific. I'm aware that I shouldn't post personal information and photos, and I never do. I don't really feel the need to worry about people finding out too much about me on the internet.

To become more responsible users of social networking websites, we should limit the amount of personal information we post. Posting too much personal things can make us vulnerable. We should keep in mind that the internet is public and that strangers can see anything we post. We should also take advantage of privacy settings since it allows you to choose who can see your pages. Always use strong passwords so that your profile is protected and secure. And last but not least, DO NOT believe everything you see on the internet.

Twitter Trouble

My generation has grown up in a world where we can share and express our feelings easily through the internet. This has lead to positive things like meeting new people and better communication with each other. But it also has lead to negative things like cyber-bullying. In one case of cyber-bullying, a group of high school students were punished for making rude tweets on Twitter about their teachers. One student named Khadijah commented that her teacher "lives at home with his mom, eat fish sticks for dinner, and all he talks about is Star Wars." I believe that it was very inappropriate for her to make fun of her teacher. Even if the teacher isn't her favourite or that he was being mean to her, there is no excuse for anyone to degrade someone else through the internet and more significantly, in person. Nobody deserves that kind of treatment, no matter who they are and what they did.

Most of the students were suspended for their tweets. They got moved from their classes and some of them only got a warning. In my opinion, these punishments are somewhat reasonable. I think the suspension was going a bit too far and the warnings aren't enough. I feel like all the students who made the rude comments should be punished the same. The different degrees of punishment suggests that each student did less or more wrong than the others. But in reality, that's not the case. All the students made fun of their teachers on Twitter where anyone can see it. The school should give the same punishments to students who committed the same offences.

The reaction of the students were unreasonable. Their defence was that it was in the heat of the moment and that they should be able to express their opinions freely. There is a great distinction between what is an opinion and what is a lie. An opinion is a view of something while a lie is a false statement. I believe that the students weren't "expressing their opinions" but posting lies to make their teachers seem inferior to them. It is degrading, unjust, and unreasonable. Like I've mentioned before, there is no valid excuse for anyone to be made of fun of like the way the students did to their teachers.

Scandalous!

The paparazzi crowds Miley Cyrus, making it
difficult to pass through.

The subject about the paparazzi is very contradicting to me. I often say that they are disrespectful and inconsiderate of people's feelings. They invade people's lives simply just to take pictures. They go through any means necessary to take photos to the point where celebrities are afraid to go outside. But on the other hand, I do love seeing what my favourite celebrities are doing; what they're up to and where they are. Even though I enjoy looking at pictures of famous people, I strongly disagree about how these pictures are taken. They are taken and published without their consent, and they are often lies and misleading.

The paparazzi is the perfect example for annoying and deceitful. They basically stalk celebrities and invade their privacy. Most of the time, the paparazzi bothers them when they are just doing normal things, when they are just trying to go about their lives. But they take those normalities and twist it to create rumours, and possibly ruining celebrities' reputation and personal lives. This is when the line is crossed; when they deliberately make lies about someone who they don't even know just to earn money.

Paparazzi uses the media networks to spread news and rumours because it is the easiest way to do so. It is easy to access and a lot of people use it which means more publicity and money for the paparazzi. They use it to their advantage because a majority of people will believe almost anything that's in the media.

Nicole Richie and her child

Most paparazzi scandals affects the celebrity's personal relationships and lives, whether its with family or friends. Celebrities do everything in their power so that the people important to them aren't bothered by the paparazzi. In Nicole Richie's case, she got a restraining order against a paparazzi photographer. She claims that he tried to scare her family so that he can take pictures of their reactions. He goes around, screaming and yelling at her children at an attempt to scare them to get a reaction out of them. I strongly disagree about how Richie and her family were treated. The paparazzi photographer was intentionally trying to frighten Richie's children just so he could take a photo and gain money. He didn't take any consideration about the children's feelings. He was only thinking about himself and the money he would get if he got the pictures. And the fact that everyone in the paparazzi is like this just makes me angry. They invade people's privacy and affect their lives negatively all for money.

I could never imagine myself in a celebrity's shoes; getting followed around, bombarded by paparazzi and fans, and simply being in the spotlight 24/7. I find it every annoying when people take my phone and look through it, and I prefer to be behind the camera and not be its focus. I get very defensive when someone tries to take a photo or a video of me. I like to have some things kept to myself because if everyone knows everything about me then I'm as vulnerable as knight without its shining armour; unarmed and defenceless  So I guess you can say that I don't like the attention I'm getting now. Imagine how I would be like if the paparazzi followed me around! The paparazzi just doesn't respect that everyone has the right to keep personal things to themselves simply because they are personal.