Blog #6

Cyber-Stalking Myself

   To begin with this blog, I would like to say that after googling myself and finding out that almost anyone is able to access an abundance of information about me and my life, freaks me out!! And after watching the Netflix show "You" which the main character uses the internet to find out all the information about this girl he met at his job. And although all he knew was her name and what she looked like, by using the internet and social media platforms, he ended up being able to find out where she lived. This makes me want to change my whole entire identity after doing this so no one is able to find out that much information about me without personally knowing me. Besides my Twitter account (which I do not post any personal information on), both my Instagram and Facebook accounts are private. In "Networked privacy: How teenagers negotiate context in social media" it is stated that "While the teenagers we spoke to conceptualized privacy in a variety of ways, many engaged in creative tactics to regulate who could access the information they shared online" (Marwick and Boyde, 2014). Now I believed that having my social media accounts on the privacy setting was indeed regulating who could access the information I shared online, and if it was not for this blog assignment, I would still believe this.

What Does Google Say About Me?

   The first thing I did when beginning this research was enter my first and last name into the Google search engine bar. This is the first time I have ever done this because I have always believed there was not enough of my information on the internet for anything to exist on Google, especially not just by searching my first and last name. Little did I know that there is just enough information about me. 

   The first link that google recommends is from the Christopher Newport University athletic page. Just by looking at the link, any person is able to see when my birthday is, the year I was born, where I am from, and the first and last names of my mother and father. Then by clicking on the images, the first three images that are displayed, the first and third images are of me. So strangers are also able to see how I look (good thing I am a catfish and never look this good on a daily basis....kidding).

   As I continue looking under the images tab, I found multiple pictures of me from when I was in high school. I had no idea that any of these pictures were posted nor did I even know that some of them were being taken. "While teens can control what they post on their profiles by using different privacy settings, they have far less control over what friends post about them or how their friends’ practices shape how they’re seen" (Marwick and Boyde, 2014). So far, all of information that I have found about myself on Google has not been posted by me, but yet, anyone in the world has access to this information. I also found a link to a photo of me that was posted on the social media platform called Pinterest. I do have a Pinterest but have never posted anything on it, so this freaked me out. And what freaked me out even more is that someone, who I have no idea of, saved the Pinterest post of me. This information within itself has made me want to delete all social media accounts, even though the content was not even posted by me. This is something I have no control of, even though this is private information about me.  

What Does My Facebook Say About Me?

   I have had a Facebook account since I was 8, and my mother had full control over it in the beginning. Like any mother would, she made sure that all of my information was only accessible to people who were my friends. Everything else was not able to be seen by random people just searching my name on Facebook. "The dynamics of sites like Facebook make privacy difficult to achieve; privacy settings are complicated and confusing, and rarely provide meaningful protection. Personal interactions are often visible regardless of whether teenagers themselves posted the information (boyd, 2014)" (Marwick and Boyde, 2014). I have not changed my privacy settings since my mother had set them when I was younger to be fully private. When I logged out of my Facebook account to be able to see what my account looked like from the point of view of someone who is not friends with my account, I found out that I was not receiving the total amount of privacy that I thought Facebook was giving me. I believed that it was only displaying my name and profile pictures to people who were not friends with me. Come to find out, my "private" account was displaying information such as the high school I went to, the year I graduated from that high school, the college I am currently going to and the year I am supposed to graduate, and the current city that I live in. Also, there are times when my friends post pictures that Facebook automatically tags my account in because it recognizes my face in the picture, and this will show up on my account similar to as if I would have posted it, which allows all of my friends to see the pictures, even if they are not friends with the friend who posted the picture. Sometimes we have friends that post pictures of you and them, that maybe you do not want your grandma seeing. I should be allowed to regulate the content that is displayed on my account, even to my friends. So Facebook does not give total privacy to anyone.

What Does My Instagram Say About Me?

Thank goodness, at least one social media platform allows me to have a good amount of privacy. The only thing people who do not follow me are able to see, other than what others post of me, is my profile picture, and my bio. When someone does want to follow me, I first have to accept it, and they do not gain full access to my account until they are accepted by me.

   In the end, I do believe my digital footprint is a very small size, and this is because of privacy. The accounts I most often use do not involve my last name, due to the fact that I do not want all my accounts linked together so someone is not able to find out everything about me. But just by googling my first and last name, this gives enough information about me, that was posted by others, that I personally would not put on the internet. 


sources:
Marwick, A. E., & Boyd, D. (2014). Networked privacy: How teenagers negotiate context in social         media. New Media & Society, 16(7), 1051–1067. doi: 10.1177/1461444814543995

Lindenberg, R. , Lang, A. , Sokoloff, J. , Lence, J. , Carmona, W. (2018) You [Television
series]. Los Gatos, CA: Netflix.