Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Privacy is a personal choice

There is much written and said these days about privacy. With the development of technology and the phenomenon of online social networking, we are able to expose ourselves and our deepest, darkest thoughts to all and sundry - if we choose.

Personal choice: don't blame Facebook or Twitter

This is true and it is of concern, particularly when it involves youngsters, but are we not overlooking the small matter of personal choice? 

No-one is making anyone put their date of birth and relationship status on their Facebook page. 

If you do not want to announce your new-found love to the world you can choose to keep it private. Nor is anyone forcing you to update your status daily.

Keeping secrets was harder in the old days

In days of yore, when I was young, there was no Facebook (or internet, or TV for that matter), but there were still choices about how much you were prepared to expose of your personal life and loves. 

It was much harder to keep secrets from your family who saw every letter that arrived for you, and could eavesdrop on your telephone conversations, since the only telephone was the big black one in the entrance hall, and conversations could be heard in every corner of the house unless you whispered.

Love letters 

The romantic and love-struck wrote daily snail-mail letters back then and there was a very sweet and nauseating fashion of sealing envelopes with coded messages such as I.T.A.L.Y. (I trust and love you) or H.O.L.L.A.N.D. (Hope our love lasts and never dies). I am surprised these have not found their way onto Facebook … or maybe they have, just not in my limited network.  I can only think that these “secrets” were revealed on the back of envelopes to amuse the postman.

Shouting from the rooftops

I have a theory that some people need to tell the world about their lives, and particularly about their loves. There was a radio programme in my youth, back when radios were the old TV, called Forces Favourites. It aired on a Sunday afternoon and was very popular. 

Young men doing national service, their girlfriends, wives, and even their mothers, would call in and give a live on-air dedication to their lover, or son. Not much privacy there. There were those of us who would not have dreamt of exposing our private lives to the country at large, but there were plenty who were happy to shout their feelings from the rooftops. 



Proposals used to be a private moment

There is a supermarket advertisement on TV at the moment. It’s the apparently true story of a guy who proposes to his girlfriend over the supermarket intercom system. Why?

Whatever happened to a ring in a glass of champagne at an intimate dinner for two, or going down on bended knee while picnicking on a mountain top or next to a babbling brook? 

And apparently they would not now be happily married if they had not had the co-operation of the local supermarket – strange but, apparently, true.

Declarations are the choice of some

In the same way, some people will declare their loves and hates all over their chosen social networking site, while others will keep their intimate moments private and personal.  

Maybe we all just need to stop and think before we post our next status, and decide whether it is something we really want to share with the world in general or whether it would be best kept to ourselves.

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