Privacy Online and Off

Privacy Online and Off
Lauren Mazich
Risks of Social Media

Technology and Social Media continue to take over our lives and have a strong impact on our daily functions. Many people tend to post about what is going on in their life thinking it is only their followers that are able to view their posts. After viewing these TED videos, that is most definitely not the case. For example, if a post is made on Facebook, it will forever be on Facebook. When you think you delete a post, it may be off of your page, but it is never actually gone. This factor can make social media dangerous. These posts that you want or thought were deleted are forever kept within the files of computers and can come back to haunt you.

Facebook also has the ability to track your likes, interests and anything else from your profile that you once thought was secure information. Facebook uses this information to target people with ads that they think they would want on their feed and earn money for their companies. To make ads even more applicable for your interests, Facebook is also able to track your location. With this ability, not only do they always know where you are, but they can also put ads on your feed for stores or companies in your surrounding area.

With all of these different abilities to track your location and keep records of your different interests, likes and pages visited, it is safe to say that Facebook almost controls us. Many users do not think of this while they are just scrolling through their news feeds, but every movement you make on social media is tracked. With most of this information not being publicized, it is important that users realize and take into consideration what they are signing up for before they make an account.

Theories: Confirmation Bias

Lauren Mazich
Theories: Confirmation Bias
Confirmation Bias
Psychology: Confirmation Bias

Confirmation Bias occurs when an individual looks for and uses the information to support their own idea or belief. It also means that information not supporting their ideas is disregarded. This often occurs when we want certain ideas to be true. We are motivated by wishful thinking. This leads individuals to stop searching for information once they have found evidence to support their viewpoint. Once we have formed a view, we focus in on the information that supports our point and ignore information that supports the opposing side. We pick out the bits and pieces of information that make us feel good about ourselves and provide evidence for our viewpoint. This is commonly  how prejudice viewpoints are made.

Confirmation Bias can also be found in anxious individuals who think the world is a dangerous place. For example, a person with low self esteem, is highly sensitive to being ignored by other people, and they are constantly on the look out for signs that people may not like them. If you think somebody is annoyed with you, you are biased towards all the negative information a person expresses towards you.

This theory is commonly found in the medical field. Medical doctors are just as likely to have confirmation bias as everyone else. When it comes to diagnosing a medical condition in the early stages, doctors may preform research on what they believe the condition may be. Once they find even the slightest bit of information to support their diagnosis, they stop and confirm it. This becomes a problem in the later stages of the medical condition of it was misdiagnosed, as the treatment may have needed to be different than it was with the initial diagnosis.

People are prone to believe what they want to believe. Seeking to confirm our beliefs comes naturally, while it feels strong and counter intuitive to look for evidence that contradicts our beliefs. Confirmation bias has become more common among researching than not as it is a comforting and natural process to confirm your viewpoint and feel you are correct.

WhatsMyName?

Lauren Mazich
WhatsMyName?

This past week a 21 year old student passed away after getting into a car in which she thought was her uber. After a long night of partying, Samantha's friends sent her home by herself when she was drunk but she never actually made it home. It was around 2 am when Samantha was walking the streets alone, waiting for her uber to come. A car pulled up and she entered not thinking twice about it. Before she knew it, the child safety locks were activated in the car and she could not escape.

Samantha's roommates became concerned when they never heard back from her later that night which they found very odd of her. Samantha also had work the next morning and was not present. Her boss had not heard anything from her which he also found suspicious. Reports were made to the police that she was missing.

Later that day the police received a call from two turkey hunters reporting a body found in the middle of a wooded area, about 40 feet off a dirt road. It is claimed that it was an area in which you had to know where you were going to know it existed. After investigation, it was proved to be Samantha's body.

The following night the police found the same vehicle that matched the description of the vehicle that Samantha got into about two blocks down from the previous night. The vehicle got pulled over and the driver quickly escaped but was chased down. There was blood covering the front seat and truck of the car which matched up to be Samantha's. There was also liquid bleach, germ wipes, and window cleaner found in the vehicle. Driver Nathaniel Rowland has been arrested on charges of murder and kidnapping.

To prevent future events of situations like this Samantha's family and friends have started the #WhatsMyName campaign. It is suggested that before entering a rideshare company car that you match the license plate with the one on your phone, match the picture of the driver with the one in the car and before entering the car ask the driver "Whats my name" to ensure that it is in fact the correct car picking you up. These safety precautions will help reduce events like this from occurring. 

Online Self-Audit

Online Self-Audit
Lauren Mazich
Every Post Has an Impact

Living in a society where technology is heavily depended upon, social media continues to have a strong impact on our everyday lives. Many people rely on social media to get their daily news, catch up with their friends, or to express what is going on in their personal lives. However, as people post and scroll through their news feeds, it is not uncommon that you run into a post in which is posted by a user without much thought or consideration of others.

Even though people may think about it too much, your social media presence has to do a lot with maturity and respect of yourself and others. Each and every post could potentially have a consequence whether it is a positive or negative one. Personally, as the years have gone by and I have grown up a bit, I dont really find myself posting on social media too much; instead I am more of a follower of others who just scrolls through my news feed to see what is going on around me. However, when I do post, it is never anything to inappropriate. It is mainly a post about the Womens Soccer team here at High Point or a big event or happening going on in my life.

With that being said, being an NCAA Student-Athlete, your social media posts are monitored very closely. If there are hints of partying or drinking or any sort of potential breaking of NCAA  rules, there are severe consequences. Some people struggle with this aspect of being a student athlete more than I do, due to the fact that many athletes constantly want to go out and party, it can be tempting to post something from a fun night of going out with your friends which can potentially put yourself at risk of other consequences that were never intended.

Due to such strict NCAA Student Athlete rules and the constant monitoring from coaches, teammates and other people of authority, I keep my social media positing to a minimum. Even though you may feel that only specific people can see your posts, it is very easy for word to go around through social media and turn into something that could easily be prevented. After all, in a few years, chances are you will look back and question yourself as to why you ever posted something like that in the first place.