Privacy may be on its death bed

Continued from page one

Celebrity culture thrives on the establishment of a relationship like the kind Creasman has described, also called a “parasocial relationship.” Such a relationship blossoms when an audience feels like they are involved with the personal lives of media figures.

A part of everyday life is seeing your favorite star’s post in your feed, listening to your top artist, and anticipating a new movie with your favorite actors. Repeated exposure to such media may result in a parasocial relationship–we may feel we are friends and not fans.

The line of obsession, even idolatry, can be thin at this point. People can constantly tiptoe the line, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. In 2020, Lady Gaga told People magazine, “... I felt threatened by the things my career brought into my life and the pace of my life.”

This threat has been most recently exemplified through Prince Harry and Megan Markle’s decision to leave their British Royal titles after media harassment and what they say is lack of support from the Institution. An early acknowledgment from Prince Harry about the situation is from an official statement released in 2016, which concludes, “[Prince Harry] has asked for this statement to be issued in the hopes that those in the press who have been driving this story can pause and reflect before any further damage is done.”

Some may say an audience’s feeling of entitlement for the details of a social figure’s personal life

Cyber attacks

by Connor Lambert

Technology today has become a prominent tool in life. Technology has made life easier in many ways–it can automate tasks, set up reminders, gather receipts, offer entertainment and more. With around 5.07 billion users a day on the internet, technology can also be an unsafe place if you aren’t cautious.

While technology can be a great place for storing your information for easier accessibility, such as bank accounts, social security numbers, emails, passwords, and other personal data, it isn’t as safe as many people think. Getting hacked is actually quite common, with around 2,200 accounts getting hacked or ‘cyber attacked’ every day. That’s an estimate of 800,000 people per year. Even though that is a large number of people, some might not even know that they have been hacked or that their personal information was revealed, which can make this situation frightening.

People can make common mistakes that allow their personal data to be stolen.

is justified. It’s a recent debate: do public figures surrender their rights to privacy the moment they step into the limelight? Of the Falcons surveyed, 35.1% say always yes, and 45.5% say it depends.

The question could also apply to students. On average, Falcons spend between four and five hours a day on their phones, indicating that our thoughts are available to others for this amount of time in addition to the seven hours we spend at school. While it is a choice to be available to others in this way, what can’t be controlled is the reactions of others.

“People have become less respectful of people’s privacy, and people in general,” Creasman says. “Social media, although it can be inspiring, has also given people a platform to be extremely critical and nasty without the backlash of saying it to their face. It’s become custom to get in others’ business and state your views on the lives of people that you don’t even really know.”

It’s 2023. Scrolling fills our free time and our feeds are smeared with celebrity news and jokes about what is circulating in the media.

“Social media controls our society,” Gali Strilka (‘23) says. “It’s not only something we use to post what we are doing once in a while. It has become something that some people post all of their thoughts, and for some it has become their only form of communication with each other.”

Posting can seem harmless. We see our friends, and perhaps most importantly, others see us. The digital dilemma is, how much of us should they see?

“People can be hacked by not using strong passwords, allowing others to use your account, using unprotected public wi-fi that threatens digital privacy, accepting requests to share your location, or clicking links or opening attachments in emails.” Fundamentals of Computing teacher, Charles Brown, said.

One of the most common methods is phishing. Phishing happens when a scammer pretends to be a financial advisor, or IT support, or any other ‘trustworthy’ source. This method can occur through emails, messages, and other common sources of communication. Other ways people can be hacked include accidentally downloading malware and going to unsecure websites.

Fortunately, there are many ways that people can stay safe online. “Be wary of the links you click, update your passwords regularly, when using public WiFi remember that everything you do while connected can be spied on, and be very suspicious of emails or messages,” Brown suggests. Other ways that people can stay safe include making sure your wifi software is up to date and protected, using a password manager, as well as using antivirus or firewall software.

Although technology has become a staple in recent years, and most people see it as an amazing tool, it can still be unsafe if people are not careful. It can be easy for people to be hacked and have their important information stolen from them, and this situation can be scary. But if you make sure you use safe and different passwords for your accounts, make sure your devices are up to date, and you think before you click on a link or share information, you too can stay safe on the internet.