Month: August 2019

Mom! Get out of my (publicly accessible digital) room, and close the door!

When we were kids, my mother gave my sister a diary, so that she could write down her private thoughts. It had a miniature lock and key, so she would know she was the only person with access to it.

I caught my mother reading that diary. More than once. As young as I was, I didn’t know what to do about it. Should I have told my sister? I’d be snitching on my mother. But I did not like the fact that she was violating an explicit privacy policy. It also sent me wondering if and how she might be spying on me.

Was my mother being ethical? She was likely looking for signs her daughter might be struggling in ways she didn’t want to share. Her gift of a “private” diary was definitely deceptive. What about me? Should I have told my sister what I saw? What unspoken compacts would I violate if I kept quiet?

What is the relationship between young people, the online social platforms they use daily, and their parents? Is it okay for parents to snoop on them? It’s not like they need to pick a lock to see what their kids are posting on Instagram or Facebook. Nevertheless young people expect parents to observe boundaries, to refrain from watching their every online move. This ethic, which they believe adults should understand, can easily transfer to the social media companies. Teens are by and large either under-informed or unworried about how their online footprint can haunt them and be used against them.

In 2015, the Thrive Foundation for Youth published an exhaustive report on media use by teens and ‘tweens.’ The report paints a ‘whack-a-mole’ landscape in which parents are only privy to a fraction of the depth and breadth of their kids’ activities. Kids are adept at concealing the full picture of their online presence, while also ironically wishing their parents understood their digital social lives better.

Both groups have plenty to learn. Parents are generally only partially aware of how kids socialize online, and with whom. Furthermore, at a meeting to which adults were not invited, kids have drafted a set if rules they expect mom and dad to understand and follow when it comes to reviewing their online posts.

The trust kids place in their adult guardians to know where the line is drawn is quaint. If they place a similar level of faith in the best intentions of the giant online companies whose terms of service they have signed, they risk a persistent, easily discoverable, indelible digital legacy.

When I taught high-schoolers, I asked them to look into the future, at their 30-year-old selves. I asked if they thought that person was happy with all the choices they were making today. As often as not, they looked at me with an expression that said, “I fail to see the relevance of the question.”

Sharing is caring or is it?

What are your thoughts about the issues of safety, security, and privacy? What are your concerns? What are your ideas for addressing them in ways that still allow you to take advantage of the value of  social networking and media?

While driving home alone from a conference in Keystone this summer I called my husband and told him I wasn’t feeing well. I was using Waze to more to monitor the traffic than for directions. I didn’t realize Waze was monitoring me as well. When I hung up with my husband an ad popped up on Waze, an ad for the Urgent Care five minutes from my home, the Urgent Care we always use, I was an hour away. It was then that I realized the lack of privacy I had driving in my own car alone. Was it helpful information? Yes. Did I make an appointment? Yes. It has made me consider things I say in private may not actually be in private. 

I have social media, I am not so concerned with privacy that I will delete all my accounts and live without a digital footprint, it doesn’t seem reasonable in this technological age. I do not share my phone number or mother’s maiden name or my social security number, I thought not sharing those things kept me safe.

Everyone must have a personal social level they are comfortable sharing, online and in person. I will spill my guts about a bad day to a coworker who casually asks “how was your day?” I cannot stop myself from saying where I bought something and how much I saved if someone compliments an outfit. Then there are people who don’t overshare, people who would answer “fine, thanks, and you?” to my coworker’s question, people who respond to a compliment with a simple thank you. Our online identities are similar, people either feel free in sharing some personal information, vacation plans, check ins at restaurants, blogs, and YouTube videos, or they have social media accounts but rarely post, or they stay away from social media entirely.

The most important thing is people need to know how their information is being used, it is obviously being used from the targeted ads that appear on Facebook after you google “all inclusive Mexican vacations.” Some people may find that creepy, some may find it helpful. According to Panda mediacenter, “While many users think they are harmlessly adding information to their profiles, this information can be used for targeted ads, sold to marketers, or worse, sold into the black market. Facebook has even admitted to using 98 different data points to target advertisements.” My comfort level, like most people, lands somewhere in between the extremes. I want social media to keep in touch with family and friends, I also want to protect my privacy. 

I have created alternate Facebook and InstaGram accounts, one with my professional name that is easy for my students’ families to find and one with my maiden name for personal use. I have had a Gmail address for about 14 years, I have used that email for all things, I am also notoriously bad at deleting email. Since this is near the end of my blog post and I’m sure no one reads anything on the internet, I will confess to having, at this point, over 28,000 unread emails cluttering up the email box. I know, it is a problem. As soon as I post this I will create a new email address and hide the old one, if only I can figure out those privacy settings. 

Resources:

(2018, June 26). How Much Does Social Media Know About You – Panda Security. Retrieved from https://www.pandasecurity.com/mediacenter/social-media/how-much-does-social-media-know-about-you/

An Abstainer Reflects on Social Media

Photo credit: Matthew Henry on Unsplash

Social media users – in addition to paying attention to issues of security and privacy – should make an effort to be aware of how their social media usage is affecting their mental well-being.

Our class is currently discussing issues of safety, security, and privacy in social media. I would like to add to this a topic that I consider equally valid when considering the pros and cons of social media use: mental health.

Let’s start with the basics: I am a social media teetotaler. In this social-media-saturated world, I abstain.

To be clear, this online reticence doesn’t originate in anything nefarious. I am not conducting clandestine criminal acts in my spare time. Nor do I subscribe to conspiracy theories about surveillance programs carried out by a secret overclass of lizard people (a purely fictive threat), or think every post has the potential to bring down the doxxing-wrath of the misogynists of our modern era (a genuine threat faced by many women).

I’m simply one of those folks who suffer from an unfortunate combination of social anxiety and over-analyzing online interactions. And I am not alone.

A quick recap: Around 2015, after experiencing increasing issues with anxiety and depression, I started tapering off the amount of time I spent on sites like Facebook and Twitter. My rationale was simple – I noticed that I seemed to feel worse after visiting these sites and wanted to see if reducing my visits would also reduce my psycho-emotional distress. It did.

By 2017, I had whittled down my social media usage to nothing. It would remain “nothing” if not for my MA program, which requires us to create a personal website, blog, and tweet. Other than these MA-mandated posts, I refuse to touch social media with a ten-foot pole.

While I acknowledge that my experience is in no way representative of every human ever to log onto the internet, it is worth noting that scientific research indicates many other people my age are experiencing the same social-media-anxiety connection.

Let’s take a quick look at the top-cited peer-reviewed research on this topic from the last three years.

Up first: a 2017 study analyzed a nationally representative sample of Americans between the age of 19 and 32, comparing their symptoms of depression and anxiety against their use of multiple social media platforms.

The results? Compared against participants who used 0 to 2 social media platforms, participants who used 7 to 11 social media platforms had “substantially higher odds of having increased levels of both depression (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] = 3.0, 95% CI = 1.9–4.8) and anxiety symptoms (AOR = 3.2, 95% CI = 2.0–5.1). Associations were linear (p < 0.001 for all) and robust to all sensitivity analyses.” From this, the researchers concluded that use of multiple social media platforms is independently associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, going so far as to recommend that “it may be valuable for clinicians to ask individuals with depression and anxiety about multiple platform use and to counsel regarding this potential contributing factor.”

Another study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders highlighted a connection between social media use and anxiety in young adults ages 18 to 22.  Their main takeaway: more time spent using social media was linked to a higher chance of having an anxiety disorder.

Finally, in a 2018 study published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, researchers correlated participants’ responses to questionnaires about anxiety, depression, loneliness, and “fear of missing out” (or FOMO) with data from their phones showing how much time they were spending on social media apps. Over a three-month period, the participants who limited their social media use to 30 minutes or less reported experiencing less depression and loneliness.

Following an in-depth analysis of their results, one of the researchers concluded: “Using less social media than you normally would leads to significant decreases in both depression and loneliness. These effects are particularly pronounced for folks who were more depressed when they came into the study.” (Melissa G. Hunt, quoted in this article)

So what can we learn from this? Should we all be social media abstainers?

I think that would be a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. For most functioning adults, using social media doesn’t immediately lead to a panic attack or feelings of overwhelming Weltschmerz.

However, I DO think that social media users – in addition to paying attention to issues of security and privacy – should make an effort to be aware of how their social media usage is affecting their mental well-being.

Every now and then, check in with yourself. How do you feel when you are on Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter or Reddit? For that matter, how are you feeling in general? If the answer is “not great,” then it might be worth stepping away for a few hours or reducing the amount of time you’re spending in that site or app.

And—if you’re like me and notice a massive, painful correlation between scrolling through your Facebook feed and the desire to hyperventilate—it’s okay to step away permanently. Missing out on social media doesn’t mean you are missing out on life. What matters most is that you’re able to enjoy life.

References

Hunt, M. G., Marx, R., Lipson, C., & Young, J. (2018). No more FOMO: Limiting social media decreases loneliness and depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 37(10), 751-768. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751

Primack, B. A., Shensa, A., Escobar-Viera, C. G., Barrett, E. L., Sidani, J. E., Colditz, J. B., & James, A. E. (2017). Use of multiple social media platforms and symptoms of depression and anxiety: a nationally-representative study among U.S. young adults. Computers in Human Behavior, 69, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.11.013

Vannucci, A., Flannery, K. M., & Ohannessian, C. M. (2017) Social media use and anxiety in emerging adults. Journal of Affective Disorders, 207, 163-166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.08.040

Searching the Cyberspace Galaxy

As I am writing this post, I have a sense that every word I type is entering, not a black hole, but rather an internet galaxy of trillions of gigabytes (correction, zettabytes) of other words and images.  And rather than entering what used to be deemed as a mysterious cyberspace, my words are now searchable, indexable, and can even be claimed and named by another person altogether.  Scientists are finding, and naming, thousands of new planets and stars daily; the universe is not nearly so obscure.  We are empowered by knowing we can now come to know what we don’t yet know.

But do I want to be discoverable – and discovered?  How do I manage this vulnerability, when there is part of me that is drawn to the idea that others might be interested in, even impressed by, the words I have written?  To be discovered, or not to be?  I now have no choice either way. 

So, what are my thoughts about online safety, security, and privacy?  It is fading and getting beyond our grasp.  I can only hope that Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is correct, that “these problems can be solved, and one of the great things about our society is that you can write these predictions out, and people will attack them and they will solve them.”

Maybe this is a non-issue, since these are public words I am writing – at least I am releasing them to be.  But there are private words and images, or so I might desire, that are accessible as well, text messages to family members, personal photos posted for friends, locations identified where I have been, or even where I am right now.

I am relieved to have some resources now to start the long journey of ‘cleaning up’ my digital footprint.  But, ironically, I am also aware that I need to take steps forward to actually add more footprints.  However, my steps will be more cautious now, more intentional, probably rewritten many times over, and certainly not posted in haste.  

So, I am choosing to be in an online world.  And I want to be an informed mentor to those just now joining me in this galaxy; but even more, to those younger who have been born into this internet culture and who might feel disconnected even within their online connectedness.   Danah Boyd shared a profound solution for helping young people who are overwhelmed by this social media world and “who are frustrated with the destabilized network landscape around them.”  Both offline and online, young and old, “we must build and support sustained networks of people… [we must] protect people as networks” (Boyd, 2018).  In other words, create and uphold real live communities, even if they are built within a virtual neighborhood.  This allows for the proverbial “it takes a village” mindset, with people who can be mentors, internet navigators, and social media moderators of sorts.  In these communities there can be the safety and security that comes from belonging and the mutual respect that will, hopefully, result in more online kindness.

NPR’s All Things Considered. (2013, Apr 22). Google Execs Talk Privacy, Security in ‘The New Digital Age’. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/04/22/178424347/google-execs-talk-privacy-and-security-in-the-new-digital-age

Boyd, Danah. (2018, Mar 7). What Hath We Wrought?. SXSW EDUCAUSE. [YouTube].

Who Took the Cookie From the Cookie Jar?

The young children’s song of “Who Took the Cookie From the Cookie Jar” is a classic nursery rhyme where kids try to guess who took the cookie as they go around the circle. Oddly enough, with the addition of data mining, computer cookies, and data caches we are back trying to guess who took our cookies and in this case our search history.

So what exactly are computer cookies and what does this mean for our privacy? Whatarecookies.com addresses many frequently asked questions related to computer cookies and describes them as “small files which are stored on a user’s computer. They are designed to hold a modest amount of data specific to a particular client and website, and can be accessed either by the web server or the client computer.”

Cookies will record our usernames/ log in information as well as what we are searching or clicking on while browsing and then customizes web pages and advertisements accordingly. This is why you might notice the shoes you searched up weeks ago continues to pop up along the side of websites you are visiting or in suggested posts on social media applications. While it is very nice to not have to constantly log in to facebook and similar websites every time you visit the site, where my worry sets in is when I put in credit or debit card information.

The graphic above illustrates the distrust in our privacy and in no area is there more than 10% of the sample population that is very confident in our cyber security. I operate under the assumption that as long as I am online, privacy is not guaranteed because you never know who’s hand is in your “cookie jar”.

Scary social media

A quick search of Google Scholar of “Social Media Effects of Youth” will turn up a number of academic studies ranging from the effects of binge drinking of teenagers because of social media, to possible effects on how the mind processes information, to the social structure of the family, changing, all because of social media. All of these concerns have valid points; however, it is important to remember that every type of new technology has met some type of resistance.

The printing press, for example, came with its fair share of critics.  Abbot Johannes Trithemius stated:

[The writer,] while he is writing on good subjects, is by the very act of writing introduced in a certain measure into the knowledge of the mysteries and greatly illuminated in his innermost soul; for those things which we write we more firmly impress upon the mind…While he is ruminating on the Scriptures he is frequently inflamed by them (Brann).

In other words, the printing press would take the writer, usually a monk, further from God. While one could argue that handwriting a book would put you more in touch with the author, the speed, by which new ideas could flow because of the printing press outweighed the need that every book be hand-copied.

Early Press, etching from Early Typography by William Skeen

The telephone, electricity, and even vaccinations have all come with critics voicing concerns. Some of those concerns have been valid, much like some of the criticism for social media.

Some of those concerns can be found in this article about students coming into the classroom already either having watched a video that only gives a one-sided surface level video about the topic being taught, or even to harass teachers because of something they said that was recorded.

Social media, much like these other leaps of technology, have their uses for the good of society as a whole. Because these are tools being used by humans, another, more sinister reason for use can be had as well. Think about the things that have been printed that have led to the loss of life, the number of people who are contacted by phone and scammed out of money, or the harm that social media can do to students/teachers in a classroom.

It is incumbent on all of us to call out the behavior we do not approve of and that can cause harm. This tool can be used for such good and can connect people and groups that no other technology has been able to before. My hope is that we can come together as a community and ignore divisive forces.

Brann, N. L. (1981). The abbot Trithemius: (1462-1516): the renaissance of monastic humanism. Leiden: Brill.

Skeen, William (1872). Early Typography. Ceylon: Government Printer, Colombo. p. 122.

Online Safety and Privacy: Is Ignorance Bliss?

What are your thoughts about the issues of safety, security, and privacy? What are your concerns? What are your ideas for addressing them in ways that still allow you to take advantage of the value of social networking and media?

As I read the articles and watched the assigned videos on privacy and security this week, I threw myself in the fetal position, feeling the hopelessness that I no longer belong to myself.

via GIPHY

But seriously, according to WebHostingGeeks and Privacy International, we have very little knowledge and control about what personal information we share on the web and to whom. Apparently, we have been profiled, not only by the information we shared but by our online behavior. Should we panic?

I started worrying.  So, out of curiosity, I googled myself and I found my personal information in pages where I have never participated or consented to share it, yet there it was. Mylife.com, zoominfo.com, voterrecords.com, to mention some. These pages had my full name, age, home address, working address, and they even offer a background check on me!

To access these records, you have to agree to the following: “I WILL NOT use this information to stalk anyone. If I see someone I know, I WILL NOT use this information for blackmail. I WILL NOT harass people whose criminal records appear on this site”. They even give you ideas!

As I stared at the screen, I wondered how they got my info –somehow, I must have given it to them. It took me a few seconds to decide to be proactive about it and found out how to request that my information is erased. I followed the recommended steps –with my fingers crossed that it wasn’t another trap. I am giving them a few days to see if it worked.

In case you are wondering, I did this:

So, all the reading and the googling made me aware of a problem I didn’t know I had. For me, it was just about being careful, and just thinking before posting. As one of the week’s readings said: “…privacy is the currency of our online lives, paying for petty conveniences with bits of personal information. But we are blissfully ignorant of what that means”. (Hess, 2017)

I haven’t decided yet if I liked it better when I didn’t know I had this problem. As I write this post, I still have more questions than answers. My stream of consciousness goes like this: What are my thoughts about the issues of safety, security, and privacy? Am I concerned about my safety? Is ignorance bliss? Who cares about my data? What do they use it for? Is it for selling me stuff? Can a cybercriminal use my information to steal my identity and buy a house in Timbuktu?

Lessons Learned

Whereas I don’t feel utterly unsafe for what I discovered with this assignment, I will be more careful the next time someone –or something– asks for my information. Here are some ideas on how to take advantage of the value of social networking and media while protecting my privacy and keep myself and my data safe.

Lesson 1: Take control!

Shape your digital footprint and make your online presence what you want it to be. This is not that difficult to achieve. Have “public” accounts for your professional online activities and let people find you.  Be in charge of what the internet says about you. For example, it makes me happy that when I googled myself, I found my LinkedIn Page and some of my Prezi presentations, they make me look good!

Lesson 2: Just say no!

Do not give away your info. Next time you go shopping and the cashier interviews you to enter the rewards program, just say no! Don’t click on the “Accept cookies” button on random webpages. Don’t open suspicious e-mails. Don’t answer the phone if you don’t recognize the number (let them leave a message; if it’s important they will.) Personal information has a lot of value, keep it safe!

Lesson 3: Technical Precautions

Stop leakage of sensitive information by preventing the transmission of confidential data from your computer and mobile devices. How? Use the incognito browser, delete cookies frequently, check the privacy settings of the apps you use and the sites you visit. Disable your microphone in your phone and computer –someone or something may be listening. Likewise, disable the location services for mobile apps so they cannot collect that data. You can never be too cautious.  

Lesson 4: Think before you post!

This one is obvious, but it’s worth remembering it. This is a classic: 

Spiders, the web, and me

Flowering plant with a spiderweb attached.

I am pretty phobic about spiders, so when I saw one hanging out (literally) in the shower tonight as I started to step in, it occurred to me that my uphill battle against spiders in the house has some parallels to my efforts to maintain decent barriers within my internet and social media usage. (I would say I’m slightly less paranoid about the internet tracking) First, autumn seems to be on its way, and the spiders are either moving in to the house, or just being more visible. We’ve dealt with a minimum of a dozen spiders in the last week. I think spiders are marvelous outside the house, which I consider to be their proper setting. I enjoy watching them scramble around in our garden space, eating pests and keeping their numbers in check. They have amazing physical characteristics and an ability to go almost anywhere. Various internet providers, online services, and social networks can also be extremely useful and have a similar, more metaphorical ability to be everywhere. I recognize that my house will never be spider-free, and my network interactions will never be surveillance-free.  On the other hand, I’m willing to go to some effort to minimize both spiders and data surrender. We try to minimize obvious cracks and food sources for arachnids in the house, and online, I pay attention to what information I’m willing to share and how I access various sites.

As I read through the various resources about what gets shared, stored, and tracked, I was edified to see that there wasn’t a ton of information that was entirely new to me. I use minimal profiles and background on my social media that I use for truly social purposes, like Facebook. For my more professional usage, I focus on more narrow, work-oriented background and contacts. I use multiple email addresses, including an essentially throw-away option for signing up for online services and the occasional online purchase, which I also try to minimize. I started using DuckDuckGo as my search engine a few years ago, and prefer the interface and results lists to Google. I clear history and cookies with some regularity, and the fact that my job as a librarian has me using multiple different computers in the course of a day or week, and searching for a wide variety of topics and products well outside my actual interests feels like a bit of extra camouflage as well.  

There are certainly levels of privacy protection that I’m not ready to tackle yet and don’t really feel a need to utilize. I’ve been tempted to play with Tor browsing on occasion, but I am not really interested in the attention that can also arise from that usage or that of some of the more anonymous email providers. I’m also not ready to go to a progression of burner phones or drop boxes that start to feel more like I’m playing a role in a spy thriller than managing communication. Since so many industries and jobs expect some form of an internet presence, I’d rather manage and curate one that sends a message I want rather than be completely invisible to potential colleagues and employers.  

Private Eyes, They’re Watching You…

Privacy by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

Privacy in the digital realm is of major concern. Which is no wonder as the number of data breaches of big companies continues to grow.

By J. Clement

There is another concern, however, and that is the question of how companies and governments will use this information to influence society.

On need only look at China’s “Social Credit System” to bring up ideas of Orwell’s 1984 and Big Brother watching you.

This social system has been in development for a while. The system has roots in Mao’s rule, but in its current state, was created in 2001 (Hoffman). Sold as a way to build up a system for distributing credit, and illustrating trust, this program has a number of much more sinister applications. One can listen to what happens when a Chinese citizen gets a low social credit score, as this episode of NPR’s “Planet Money” covers.

In addition, there is a not so far fetched episode of Netflix’s “Black Mirror” that shows what could happen when someone’s social score drops so low that services are denied. Do people think that this episode mimics China’s Social Credit System? This video explains just that.

In this article from the Washington Post, there is an exploration of what the Chinese people think about this credit scoring system. Could this happen in the United States? This article in Fast Company suggests that it has already happened.

Is it as bad as most people from the West seem to think? According to this article in the MIT Technology Review, the answer may not be as straight forward as we think. In addition, the fact is that Chinese tradition is that of finding ways to incentive moral behavior.

Is this program a simple nudge to get people to behave in a way that is better for the greater good? Does this program make free-thinking citizens into robots who simply follow rules and do not question authority? What happens to those who are marginalized by this system? These questions might be answered with more study of this program.

Regardless of what one might think, as many of these videos and articles suggested, it is impossible not to have your data out there for companies or governments to use. In the end, every time we click “Accept terms” for forfeit a little privacy to get what we want or need from those companies.

  • Clement, J. (2019, July 9). Global identity theft data breaches 2018. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/215794/identity-theft-data-breaches-worldwide/
  • Elgan, M. (2019, August 26). Uh-oh: Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/90394048/uh-oh-silicon-valley-is-building-a-chinese-style-social-credit-system
  • Kostka, G. (2019, March 21). What do people in China think about ‘social credit’ monitoring? Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/21/what-do-people-china-think-about-social-credit-monitoring/
  • Hao, K. (2019, April 23). Is China’s social credit system as Orwellian as it sounds? Retrieved from https://www.technologyreview.com/f/613027/chinas-social-credit-system-isnt-as-orwellian-as-it-sounds/
  • Hoffman, Samantha (12 December 2017). “Programming China: The Communist Party’s autonomic approach to managing state security” (PDF). MERICS CHINA MONITOR. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  • Netflix. (2016, October 21). Nosedive. Black Mirror. New York, New York.
  • NPR. (2018, October 26). Blacklisted In China. Planet Money. New York, New York.
  • YouTube. (2018, April 4). Is China Becoming A Black Mirror Episode (Social Credit). Asian Boss.