Private is to be closed, hidden, and to portray to be someone different or not themselves. However, even when people think that they are being private they really are not. Nothing is private in this day in time. On the contrary, In the book It’s Complicated, Danah Boyd presents one possible definition of privacy as being, “the claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others” as suggested by Alan Westin (59).
For instance, a person has the right to determine what kind of information is taken about them, and the purpose of that nformation. By having the right to privacy the government completely controls the people’s lives, and requires the government to protect individuals from privacy invasion by other people. This helps in protecting individuals from being taken advantage of. Although, people may believe that they have complete privacy within their lives in reality the government still has full control over their information. Therefore, people do not have the complete privacy that they wish to have.
However, an individual must have respect, reputation management, ability to change, ability to not have to ustify oneself while still maintaining some level of privacy. Privacy is about respecting individuals. If a person has a reasonable desire to keep something private, it is disrespectful to ignore that person’s wishes without a convincing reason to do so. Certainly, the desire for privacy can conflict with important values, so having the right to privacy may not always win. Danah Boyd clarify the lack of respect an over protective mother has over her child behavior while surfing around the internet.
Moreover, Bly Lauritano-Werner a seventeen year old girl enjoys interacting and communicating with her friends online. Nonetheless, she despises the fact that her mother keeps exploring her social media posts, which leads to disrespect and lack of privacy. Furthermore, Boyd illustrates, “When Bly interviews her mother during the segment, her mother claims that she has the right to look at what Bly posts. She argues that she should be able to look “because I have a connection with you” (57). This demonstrates that Bly Lauritano-Werner mother displayed a lack of respect in her interview.
In the interview, Bly Lauritano-Werner desires to keep her social media private. However, her mother disrespects her wishes without strong vidence to support the notion to view her social media post. Nevertheless, life is not always a bed of roses. One cannot expect to win an argument as Bly Lauritano-Werner because her mother is the head of the household and responsible for her child behavior. Conversely, an individual must have a respect to his or her privacy. Secondly, privacy allows people to manage their reputations. How we are judged by others affects our opportunities, friendships, and overall well-being.
Although people can’t have complete control over their reputations, people must have some ability to protect their reputations from being unfairly armed. Knowing private details about people’s lives does not necessarily lead to more accurate judgment about people. People judge badly, out of context, without hearing the whole story, and with hypocrisy. Privacy helps people protect themselves from undesirable judgments. Danah Boyd, simplify a possible way teens manages their reputations. Boyd claims, “most adults seek privacy, they do so in relation to those who hold power over them.
Unlike privacy advocates and more politically conscious adults, teens aren’t typically concerned with governments and corporations. Instead, they’re trying to avoid surveillance from parents, eachers, and other immediate authority figures in their lives. They want the right to be ignored by the people who they see as being “in their business” (56). This demonstrates a skill of reputation management. The teens are avoiding surveillance. Danah Boyd say, “Surveillance is a mechanism by which powerful entities assert their power over less powerful individuals.
Teens are avoiding those parents, teachers, and other immediate authority who put them under surveillance. The teens are wanting to keep them out of their business but also to prevent them from judging their behaviors. Majority of he time, parents, teachers and other immediate authority are quick to judge badly, out of context, without hearing the whole story, and with hypocrisy. Although, people cannot have complete control over their reputations but having the ability to manage reputation is valuable for preventing judgment while demanding privacy.
Thirdly, privacy allows change and to have second chances. Many people are not static; they change and grow throughout their lives. There is a great value in the ability to have a second chance, to be able to move beyond a mistake, to be able to reinvent oneself. Privacy nurtures this ability. It allows people to grow and mature without being attacked with all the negative things they might have done in the past. Boyd explains, “When parents choose to hoover, lurk, and track, they implicitly try to regulate teens’ practices.
Parents often engage in these acts out of love but fail to realize how surveillance is a form of oppression that limits teens’ ability to make independent choices” (74). By not having the ability to make independent choices enables the teen to grow and mature. People learn by their mistakes which then helps growth and maturity but, if the teen is being under surveillance throughout each day enables hange and growth throughout their lives. Consequently, an individual must have privacy in order to change and have second chances without being judge by their past.
Last but not least, an important reason why privacy matter is having the ability to not explain or justify oneself. People may do a lot of things which, if judged from afar by others lacking complete knowledge or understanding, may seem odd or embarrassing or worse. It can be a heavy burden if we constantly have to wonder how everything we do will be perceived by others and have to be ready to explain. Danah Boyd demonstrates the lack of attention in the case of Taylor. Boyd reports, “Taylor is not one to share, and if she had her druthers, she wouldn’t tell her friends much about what’s happening in her life.
She understands that her friends mean well, but she is a reserved person, and she doesn’t like it when people are in her business. Taylor started creating a “light version” of her life that she’ll regularly share on Facebook just so that her friends don’t pester her about what’s actually happening” (74). This demonstrates the lack of attention Taylor wants on her life. By Taylor allowing herself to regularly post on Facebook is enabling her friends to questioned her about ersonal business so that she will not have to explain or justify her problems.
Thus, having the right to privacy gives people the chance to having to explain or justify themselves. In conclusion, people should have the right to want to be safe, secure and protected. In order to be safe, secure and protected they should have the right to privacy. Boyd claims, privacy is valuable because it is crucial for personal development. Thus, an individual must have respect, reputation management, ability to change, ability to not have to justify oneself while still maintaining some level of privacy in order to value their personal development.
