Social Media as a Society- What Have We Become?
Some of you may recognize the above picture. For those of you who do not, this is/was Tiger Wood’s Cadillac Escalade. Tiger crashed into this tree on Thanksgiving. Of course I am not going to dwell on the actual accident but I will say it seems Tiger is physically ok. As for his marriage, that might end up looking like his Escalade. Many people say we have been in the digital age for a while now. With the Woods incident as well as a few others, I feel we have only recently hit the digital era.
It was not long ago that the tradition media would pick up a story like Tiger Woods car accident and blow it all over the news. Then it would hit the water cooler and it would be the topic of the week. Next week something else would take its place. Now we have Twitter and Facebook. Topics now hit Twitter and start trending. World wide discussions start and do not stop. These become digital finger prints, lasting in Google, Bing, and others for a long time. We are now actually in people’s lives and judging them publicly. I am all about living transparently and such, but some level of privacy is not a bad thing. Tiger Woods cheating on his wife does not need to trend on Twitter. How would you feel if you were in his shoes? It is easy to judge when you are not in the spot light. I am certainly not defending Tiger Woods actions, I am however defending his right to privacy and that not everything is required to be public.
Tiger released a statement that I think is a great quote on what I am trying to explain:
“Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy. I realize there are some who don’t share my view on that. But for me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one’s own family. Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions.”
While yes, we as a society have come to expect transparency from public figures and companies alike, a certain level of respect and privacy is fair to ask for. What have we become as a society? Is all your dirty laundry on the social networks? Would you like it to be? Then maybe we should leave some others dirty laundry alone.
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