Privacy and the invasion thereof

Privacy. These days it appears that the mere word can cause thorns to erupt where you thought only pretty flowers and soft grass grew. No person wants to have their privacy violated, each and every individual treasured their privacy. However, what part of your life is truly private these days? We have social networks and blogs, where we so very often post private thoughts and feelings from the deepest recesses of our minds for the entire world to see. We give people access to the details of our lives which could lead even to us experiencing dangerous situations. 

On MySpace, Facebook and Twitter we so often post where we live and work, where we have lived and worked in the past, who our family is, how old we are, whether we're romantically involved, holy hell, whether or not we have a pet and what our favorite movies are. We send out all this information and if we're not careful (i.e. check your privacy settings every now and then) all of this information can be used against us. what follows is that we scream that our privacy has been invaded. WHAT PRIVACY?? You put it out there, you weren't diligent in keeping your emotions to yourself. Goodness, I can go on Facebook and tell from their status updates who is feeling vulnerable and depressed today! 

I am also guilty of all of the above, except that I am quite anal about my privacy settings and which friend requests I accept. On the other hand, I try to keep my emotions in check when trolling the social networks, since one never knows what can be used against you. And finally, those truly private moments, I treasure with fervor. The ten minutes that I'm all alone in my car whilst driving to the shop. The half an hour that I lie in bed alone and talk to God. The fifteen minutes I spend on the can. The talks I have with my dearest friends. That has got NOTHING to do with anyone. And since we, as a society, seem so intent on broadcasting our lives as if we were on a reality television show, I feel that we must truly appreciate the real private moments and be honest with ourselves regarding our claims to privacy in the digital age.