In this digital age, we use citations to give credit to other thinkers that share common ideas with us. We have a complete system of cell lines that acknowledges the age, gender, ethnicity, and cell type of each contributor. We use passwords to ensure that our privacy is protected by technology.
However, the very items that are keeping us safe may be the same ones holding us back. Just like how George Orwell has predicted in his book Nineteen Eighty-Four, we are progressing towards a future with no privacy. In fact, the tension between progress and privacy in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot continues to persist in society today.
Big brother is watching you by Ana Villar via Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0
Yes, it’s the Internet again.
Social media seems simple and perhaps inseparable from our lives. Just by a single click, a connection can be made between two strangers. Familiar profiles pop out in the friend recommendation list as a reminder to add another friend. However, as convenient as it may seem, it is without question that we are becoming more and more paranoid on the privacy that we are “guaranteed” on social media.
Privacy by g4ll4is via Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0
The programming behind all social media seems to establish a mindset where our data is protected under technology, yet it captures every movement that we make on the Internet. In order to ensure that the content is presented to each person’s interest, there is a database for each person’s internet history that gives the program an idea of what to show on the feed. In a nutshell, social media companies are in fact exploiting our reliance on the privacy we think they provide in order to further increase our usage on social media and hence earn more profit.
If a country as huge as has the ability to censor Internet usage for their political benefit without their citizens being aware, there is no definite answer as to whether our privacy may already be invaded for other purposes or not.
Wait, was one of the words censored?
Works Cited
Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Books, 2010. Print.
wilyeh22
Hello, Claire!
I’ve found your article to be quite insightful not only on the themes and ideas between progress and privacy that has started DECADES AGO and are STILL GOING ON NOW! The extent of this honestly made me incredulous. However, don’t you think that things are somewhat different than the times of Henrietta Lacks? This being that we’ve willingly signed away our rights to privacy in the terms of agreement when it comes to digital devices and platforms?
Additionally, you’ve certainly made a great point about progress and privacy. Where do you think, for you, should be the line between the two? When does progress stop becoming progress and perhaps even a regression when too much privacy is invaded?
As always, keep up your great work,
William.
amelin22
Your blog post provides a deeper view of the term privacy and indicates how people’s privacy has already been touched without noticing. Filling up forms to enter websites, agreeing with some “consents” in order to ‘read more’… how do we know if our privacy and personal information are kept safely? But sometimes it is impossible for people to not giving out any information on the internet. In what way should be protecting ourselves from all the stalkers and “invisible strangers”?
shiche22
Hi Claire, thanks for your post,
I found out really interesting about how you connect the book 1984 by George Orwell to the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. As you mentioned in the 3rd paragraph about how social media are secretly invading the users’ privacy, it reminds me of seeing news about how social media companies are making monies from selling users’ database, have you heard of that before? In addition, I really like how you are using the question to end the blog post which makes it more interesting to read.