Article Post

 

In Emma Teitel’s article “The New Paparazzi” she expresses her opinion of the dangers of social media. CW Leadbeater once said “You are what you share” and this article agrees with this opinion. The article not only explores and informs readers about the dangers of social media but also the hazards of parties and how the paparazzi has been handed over from reporters to teens with camera phones  

In reality some of what the article argues comes off as exaggerated. It talks about not being able to “attend a social gathering without it ending up on Facebook” when really a person is able to go out and not get a picture taken. People take pictures of themselves or with their friends but not of random scenes of a party or an outing. The article also talks about using digital cameras at gatherings and how they have become “house gathering staples” when digital cameras are not present. The only cameras are the ones that appear on cell phones. Future employers may go to Facebook to look at accounts or twitter but if a photo is posted by a person with them in it generally it is cropped to make it more presentable if they are holding something inappropriate. If a person is tagged in a photo by a friend and they don’t believe they look acceptable or presentable they can simply untag themselves from the photo on Facebook. To this day the majority of the high school population has been to at least one party and it’s rare for someone not to have attended one. This generation is a social networking one. Employers don’t want someone who isn’t social or good with interacting with others. They like personable people who are confident and outgoing. Would someone who isn’t social make for a good employee?

Facebook creates a way for people to “anonymously invade the privacy of people [one] doesn’t really know” this aspect is very true. It allows people to “creep” or “stalk” others without them knowing. Anyone in the world could be looking at anyone else’s profile whether or not they are someone’s next door neighbor or are halfway around the world. This aspect can be very disturbing in the way Facebook gives everyone the capability to look through any one person’s photos if their privacy isn’t on the highest settings. It can be useful if someone has a friend has an album of something in which they were present at or they went on a holiday and posted pictures of it but when someone who doesn’t know a person is creeping then that can be disturbing although almost everyone does it. The fact that one will never know who has looked at their profile and the amount of times they have is alarming although and the article specifies that well. 

 The article vastly expresses the unlimited concerns about social media although some things don’t seem as legitimate as the article tries to make them come across as.  Cameras at parties are extremely rare but cell phones do have them and people do take pictures even though the vast majority of them are of themselves taking a “selfie” either by themselves or with their friends.  It is rare for someone to go out and snap a picture of someone else and post it on Facebook “without his or her permission”.  Most people when at parties know that it “is not appropriate behavior to take pictures of others without consent” and treat each other how they would want to be treated. The article clearly outlines many of the dangers of social media and is informative to those who are unaware and precautions them about the existing dangers of parties, social media, and cameras.