You agreed to what now??

     Social Media. Everyone is on it, everyone cares about it, but how much good is it really doing for us as a global society? I would argue that social media makes lonely people feel sociable while making sociable people feel lonely. More than just the emotional connection we feel to social media weather is makes us happy or sad is the idea of social media making us safe or not. In a recent Pew Research Center study on Facebook and Americans, it was revealed that 74% of Americans do not understand how Facebook collects their personal interests and traits or how they use them- so let me explain.

     Do you remember that thing you just liked on facebook? The thing about the thing that you wanted to buy two weeks ago in Walmart that you forgot about until a Facebook ad so kindly reminded you? It may seem like a wild coincidence, but there are layers of things happening behind your screen that made that particular advertisement appear to you. Facebook is allowed to remember every page, picture, or video you have ever liked (other advertisements included) and uses this information to target people with ads they think they would want, or rather that they can make more money from. More than this they can also look at your location and demographics to give you advertisements for things close to you like a fun, creepy stalker ex-boyfriend that follows you around based on your snapchat location. No one wants this boyfriend right? So then why does he keep showing up everywhere you look?

     With 51% of American Facebook users saying they are uncomfortable with this compiling of information, Facebook could lose a lot of revenue if people decide to take action against allowing their personal information to be sold. The information is sold solely for the benefit of corporations trying to make more money off of the average American who does not have time to research the harms of personal data collection in the name of better advertisements. Creating a Facebook account is often done by children as young as 13, which means from the age of 13 through the rest of their lives Facebook and other social media can make money off of people without their knowledge.

     This is not to discount the benefits of social media or to encourage people to deactivate their accounts, but rather to assure that people have a full understanding of what they are signing up for with every new profile they create. There is only one you in real life, but hundreds of you are living online through every profile you create. Assuring those profiles accurately describe you, while not revealing too much personal information is a hard line to tow, but not an impossible one.