Privacy?! What Privacy?

i'm reading all the rules and regulations about HIPAA, on how health care providers are obligated to protect patients' privacy by making sure they secure all personal health information and that they may very well be sued if a slip of mouth is overheard by someone who's not supposed to know, or that patient's information is being misused etc. it goes way deeper than that, of course, and it gives me a migraine every time i try to retain all that information i just read in my little head. but it also got me thinking about the importance our society placed on "privacy" and the changes we're seeing with the rising popularity of social media. so here i am - a perfect excuse to take a break and get rid of my headache. hee. :P

it's ironic how things have changed in the course of a mere decade (or so). i mean, think about it. internet used to be a means for us to escape from the "real" world - it provided us a space where we could think our thoughts aloud, in words. nobody really cared if their blogs were being read, because chances are, they weren't, and they were only shared amongst close friends. but that was a long time ago, when internet was just gaining acceptance by the vast public. today, internet is not only widely accepted as the norm, it is virtually impossible for a lot of people to live through a day without it. not one day! :/ yep, that's how connected we are. but at the same time, as people share more pictures, videos, thoughts, tweets, and what-have-you's on the net, they give away more of their "private" lives, so to speak, perhaps without really realizing the consequences of it, or even the danger of over-sharing their personal information.

as i sit here with my (abandoned) textbook and coffee, it's amusing to think how funny things are turning out. everything seems to be in reverse. gone were the days when we escaped from our "real" world by turning to the web for some comfort, solace, and privacy. back then we took refuge in the virtual world that gave us a sense of privacy to voice our thoughts anonymously, and we had room to say as we liked. nowadays, the sense of privacy on the web has completely evaporated; we have to be even more careful in the virtual world than we do in the actual world we live in - because we never know who's out there, lurking around, stalking and watching us. "you should be wary. and watch your words, young lady," my dad always warns me.

and i agree. i thank him for alerting and reminding me i shouldn't overexpose myself. but that's one way of seeing it. meanwhile, people still go on with their lives, sharing their thoughts, ideas, what they're eating or doing, and pretty much everything else you can think of, and it definitely hasn't been diminishing due to the concerns of "privacy". so i think it's worth asking, "well then, given the current trends, how important is privacy to the new generation?"

i may be wrong, but my guess is: not very much. people from my generation and older know privacy is worth cherishing, to us there are just certain things that we don't share with everyone. but kids born in the late 1990s and after the millennium probably don't get this whole "privacy" issue. to them, they are so used to the connectivity, the conveniences of the web and social media, that they don't see why they should be prudent about displaying certain personal info. that's just the way it is for them, to say as you go, sans any kind of filter system. and so, we older generation (relatively speaking; i'm not that old.. *ahem*) can sit around lamenting and/or chiding the ebbing of privacy, but it won't do anyone any good and we'd be better off doing our own thing and let the kids worry bout theirs. :P

in class, the professor told us about how he had to go an extra mile to make sure all the clients' information are secured properly after some new law was passed just recently; and if they need to be discarded, he had to cross-shred all the paperwork etc. he also added he has his son's ( the son's a college student) facebook password and can go check it out anytime, and he doubts privacy is gonna be an issue in the future. said the professor, "kids these days! they're sharing everything! you'd be surprised by what they share over the net! oh well. i wouldn't be surprised if HIPAA and all privacy laws are nullified by the future generation..." hah. well we'll see.