FInal Blog Post

 As someone who is an avid user of social media, this semester really opened my eyes to the terrifying side of not only social media but technology in general. I thought I had some privacy online but I was very naive to all the issues with privacy that our world has at the current moment. This was major when Facebook was taken to court in how they compromised user privacy. Mark Zuckerberg got up and was shocked and nervous as they presented facts and evidence that was found against his company that he founded. Many were outraged by the way Mark Zuckerberg conducted the hearing regarding the privacy issue. I was outraged by the way he acted and blew everything off as if it wasn’t a big deal. He should have been charged criminally with what he committed with Facebook in my opinion. But this isn’t really the worst piece in all of the big tech committing crimes, google is at the forefront of all of this. They have been despicable in the way they sell information to third parties about me and all their other users. Google is also big buddies with Apple when it comes to compromising user privacy. This was one of the worst things I found out during the semester. I found out that a product that I use everyday and that I heavily rely on is taking away my privacy. This is the main reason I see ads that are tailored to my interests and likes. This also is creepy from the standpoint where I have spoken about a particular event or product and then later in the day, the ads are coming up on my phone and computer. James Franco was not kidding when he said he was whispering because Mark Zuckerbe

rg was listening to him. While this has been a concern being privacy on the internet and social media, a bigger concern is the effect it has on your mental health especially for young people. As someone who is 19 years old and has battled mental health struggles, social media has become overwhelming at times. Social media has become a constant comparison of looks, money and status as a whole. There are many teens and my own friends that I have talked with about this topic as well. I have wanted validation through social media. Whether it was wanting to get likes on a particular picture or wanting a certain number of followers. I then realized recently that none of that matters. Your worth as a person is not based on your followers, number of views on your story and the number of likes you get on a photo. This is something that I had to face and I decided to use social media less and as a result, I was much happier. I also stopped the terrible habit of comparing myself to others and my own aspirations with someone else’s. Social media and technology can be a great thing but at the end of the day, social media is not reality and technology is not private, ever.