Social networking has grown a great deal since the first email was sent
in 1971. In today’s age of technology, Internet users use websites like
Facebook and Twitter to connect with their friends and coworkers.
Instagram shows one’s followers the places they go and interesting
things they do. Even applications like Snapchat exist for sharing an
exact moment in time or holding a quick conversation. New applications
are being produced every day to make it even easier to access each
other’s company, even if the sender is across the country.
It is not surprising that Millennials, the largest living generation in today’s date, take up the largest percentage of social media users. Millennials are known for their constant use of technology, and around 52 percent of young adults are multi-platform across different networks and applications every day, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. Three out of four young adults have a smart phone, which they use to regularly update statuses on Twitter and post photos online.
Sometimes sharing online can be seen as excessive to certain social media users, resulting in oversharing and publishing personal information on a public networking site. Generations of people network with each other online, but do not always agree that the information shared directly, or even indirectly like the recent Ashley Madison account leaks, is always justified.
Ball Bearings met with four individuals from different generations to discuss sharing on social media. Kaitlin Bank, a Millennial advertising undergraduate student; Danielle Mastin, an older Millennial and former student at Ivy Tech; Melinda Messineo, a Generation X professor of sociology; and Michael Gillilan, a Baby Boomer and director of student rights and community standards.
Ball Bearings: How often do you use social media?
Bank: Every day. I’m mostly on Twitter and Instagram. I check those five times a day, or at the least every morning. I get on Facebook once in awhile because I don’t like to get on Facebook. I’m on Tumblr when I’m bored; Pinterest and Snapchat to watch people’s stories.
Mastin: Generally I get on Facebook once or twice a day to keep up with friends and see what funny things people have posted.
Messineo: I don’t use it very much. I use it daily, but only for about 15 minutes or so. I am on LinkedIn and Facebook occasionally, but I use texting and email more frequently.
Gillilan: I’m on social media for maybe an hour a day. I have a personal Facebook account, and I have a couple of Twitter accounts – one for our office and a personal Twitter account I rarely use.
BB: What do you believe should be shared online and should not be shared online? What types of posts are okay and what aren’t okay?
Bank: Achievements like ‘oh, I got accepted to Harvard!’ are okay, or if you had a good day. That’s something I’d put online. Something that makes you happy should be put online, which could be considered oversharing depending on how personal they want to get.
Mastin: My sister likes to share her monthly feminine issues on Facebook and it is a bit too much. I think some health issues should be kept off Facebook because I think people see it as a way to seek pity, and I personally don’t agree with that. If it’s a serious issue and you have family far away and are just neutrally explaining what you’re going through. I think it’s just the way you put it. I just don’t treat Facebook like a diary.
Messineo: I think everything you put online you have to think about living forever, so you shouldn’t post something online you wouldn’t want to be confronted with ten years from now. Let’s say you had some snarky comment about your high school boss, which is fine at that age, but when you go to get a promotion that would not be okay. I think also it diminishes someone else’s social presence, because it’s hard to get rid of stuff and what you think is okay to post might not be okay for someone else. If you act out emotionally, you need to monitor yourself.
Gillilan: I mean, you certainly shouldn’t post things you don’t want to. I usually am posting things making fun of myself and take selfies to make people laugh, or posting pictures of my dogs. I avoid posting things about my personal beliefs, or spiritual and political beliefs, unless on rare occasion. I don’t share some things, what I’m eating or wearing, because I know most people don’t care.
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