Like this:
“People still care about privacy because they care about control. Sure, many teens repeatedly tell me “public by default, private when necessary” but this doesn’t suggest that privacy is declining; it suggests that publicity has value and, more importantly, that folks are very conscious about when something is private and want it to remain so. When the default is private, you have to think about making something public. When the default is public, you become very aware of privacy.”
Her full post is worthwhile.
It’s ironic that I moved from Facebook to a blog for privacy reasons. Whereas Facebook has privacy controls, a blog is fully public, and this keeps me on my toes.
The danger is not that we function in a private context or in a public context, but that we operate in one when we believe that we’re operating in the other. The danger of Facebook is that it feels private when it is really public.
This is not a new thing; we’ve always known the danger of disconnects. An open enemy is worse than a false friend, etc. etc.
But theologically, I’m forced to question the actual value of mass, shallow communication. I’m not sure what the real value of publicity is.
But then again, theologically, I’m forced to question most everything we humans hold dear.
Well, personally, I’m glad that you blog; I don’t “connect” well with Facebook.
As far as “disconnect” is concerned, I have a bigger problem with the converse: a false friend is a bigger problem than an open friend.
Nobody connects well with Facebook; it’s a bunch of silcon and electricity
We generally connect with people, and some tools help us more than others.
There’s a general problem with tools – we’re supposed to direct the tools, but they always wind up directing us and implicitly specifying which problems we choose to tackle (and how we tackle them).
When the default is public people are aware of privacy. Makes me think of Ghana small town life. In some ways the default is public- people live their lives outside in their courtyards for all to see. Fights are loud and the neighbours join in and everybody knows everybody’s business.
Then as you live there longer you find out that people actually guard privacy with a persistence unknown in urban Canada where people have to exert a great deal of effort to know anything about neighbours.
In Ghana nothing is carried in the open. Black plastic bags are ubiquitous. Couples are advised to wake their mates at 5 a.m. in the morning to discuss problems in a private way. A friend moving house from town to “quarters” did it under cover of darkness so that people generally wouldn’t know that she had done it or see what she was moving. Information is not just casually bandied about. Is James in the office?
“No, he’s out.” But unless you have the right to the information, and then only if you ask, you will not find out if he just stepped out on a five minute errand or if he’s gone to Timbuktu for a month.