Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Media Ethics Issues & Cases: Ch. 5

Privacy: Looking for Solitude in the Global Village

In this global village that we live, privacy continues to become more and more obsolete, thus leaving our own thoughts the only private sanction of our lives. Our culture is driven by sharing the news through social media, news shows, reality shows and tabloids. The relevancy of information changes every second due to the mass influx of updated everything.

The scary thing, however, is that our information does not remain wholly within Alan Westin's controlled view of privacy through the "circles of intimacy". The figure might as well be a detailed spider web shooting off in every which way because, the fact is, we don't know where all our information goes and who can see it. What's more, is that our society is so numb to that thought. As informed as I am about the implications of displacing personal information on the web, I do it everyday. It's truly a disease in its own right. I mean, kids as young as 10 use social media outlets. There whole life story will be readily available for anyone to access if the use of these devices continues like it does.

I feel like the true meaning of privacy is lost. Even when I'm alone, in my room, with my own thoughts I'm still connected to the world through my phone. This chapter really made me stop and think about the principle of privacy and the genuine necessity there is for it. Philosopher Louis W. Hodges writes on the need for privacy saying that "without some degree of privacy civilized life would be impossible" (Hodges 1983). This degree of privacy, and the idea of privacy in and of itself, continues to shift and mold to different standards surrounding our changing societal construct leaving little of the original idea behind.

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