Social Media is the window to our souls. Everything we think and feel is out there for the world to see. "I'm tired." "I'm excited." "I'm going on vacation." "It's snowing again." "Ugh, my boyfriend is stupid." Before social media, these were things that were said in person or over a telephone. Now if we want to keep in touch with a friend or anyone, all we need to do is read their status updates. I had a friend who was planning her wedding and the bridesmaids always had trouble getting in connect with her. The only way they knew the progress of her wedding planning was because they read her Facebook wall. Why call your friends to talk when you can talk to the whole world at once.
People have been complaining about privacy. There have been stories about people lying about being too sick to go to work or bashing their boss on their wall and they loose their jobs because of what was said on Facebook. These people blame the privacy settings on Facebook. I say the only people to blame is themselves. If you are faking being sick from work, do not post your location for their world to see. Do we all really need to know that you are at the beach? If you hate your boss, call a friend and vent. Do you really have to tell us all about it? Everyone is using some form of social media. And even if your privacy setting are set up the way you want, why do you need to tell the world your problems?
I don't understand people's need to tell the world every single thought they had during the course of their day. I was watching an episode on House where the patient was dying and had to pick between a heart transplant from a pig or a new heart valve. She was given the pros and cons for the surgery, but before making a decision, she had to post the information on her blog and get the opinions of her followers before making her decision.
Don't get me wrong. Social Media is a great tool to use to connect with friends. It's also a great tool for networking and advertising. But when it comes to the personal arena, people just go over board with the amount of information they provide to the world. We can have all the privacy settings we want but it doesn't change the fact that we are giving out too much information about our lives. There shouldn't be the need for privacy settings because if we decide to post something on the web, it is because we want the world to see. If you do not want the world to see a posting, don't write it. That's what dairies are for.
Social Media sites are nothing more but tools. It is up to us to learn how to use them wisely.
~Michelle Martinez
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