tom willerer . com

Privacy has changed

No longer is it easy to be a hermit, not talk to anyone, or live a recluse life.  And I suspect it will only get harder to do so in the future.  Why?  Because of the way the Internet transforms our social lives.

Services like facebook, Twitter, and many others make our lives so much more transparent because we are beckoned to share the little moments of our lives. These moments are at once inane, but also intimate and for the most part have always been private.  Not anymore.  Now we share them so that over time people can gain a greater sense of awareness of who each of us are, not just in our grand moments, but also in the small ones.

I also find it strange that if something tragic or amazing happens in my life, word will spread and people will comment (regardless of whether or not I mention it) on facebook, twitter and the like.

That’s like if my cat died and I didn’t put a banner out in front of my house telling everyone, but still the whole neighborhood came by to give their condolences in the form of post-it notes on my front door.  Kind of strange.  Not bad, but still strange.

What if we want to be left alone?  Is that possible anymore?  I guess so, but it’s just much harder to ignore people as the Internet has made it possible for people to stare into the windows of our lives at all times, without us even knowing.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Want to tell a good story? Go offline (english.martinvarsavsky.net)
• Social Media: it’s bigger than you might think (freshnetworks.com)

Notes