Online Interaction

Blog Post # 3 Christian Farrell

            Due to the increase in the use of social media over the past decade, there has been a debate over how much information should be shared via social media. Personally, on my Facebook alone, I share quite a bit of personal information. When I think about it though, I cannot come up with a good reason as to why I share so much information that just about anyone could see. My full name, the school I go to, my phone number, my email, my hometown, are all readily available on my Facebook page. There is also a plethora of photographs of my life over the past 6 years showing what events I have been to, and places I have been. Fortunately, I am not the only one amongst my close friends on Facebook. People seem to be content with sharing a majority of their personal information via social media. I believe this could benefit possible online relationships, as they will be more honest and open than in face to face interaction. This could lead to better and longer lasting relationships. Another benefit to this increase in social media is that it is now easier to stay in contact with people you may not see every day. I know personally, social media has made it infinitely easier to keep in touch with my close friends from high school, even if they go to a different university. The down side to this surplus of social media and personal information is there is the possibility of anyone being able to find it or have access to it. This could be potentially dangerous.

Online dating is another use of CMC that has been used successfully, but also has its drawbacks. Personally, I have a relative who has been catfished by a third party. He was being lead on by these people pretending to be a girl his age, and when he was finally able to meet her she didn’t show up. When he dug a little deeper, he found out this girl did not exist and people had been playing with his emotions. The whole thing was very emotionally damaging to him, and to this day he still does not like to talk about it. However, more and more people are finding significant others via online dating. I think the benefits of online dating far outweigh the risks and dangers. I personally don’t think I would use it, just because I prefer face to face interaction rather than computer mediated communication. I do think that it is perfect for people who want to meet someone, and don’t want to go to bars and get set up with people through friends. Unfortunately, there is always that danger that the person you are talking to is not telling the truth and leading you on. Just based on what my relative has said, he would never use the internet to meet someone again. After the incident, he got rid of all of his social media. This may seem extreme, but when something like that happens, how can you ever trust someone on the internet again?