Myspace, Facebook, Xanga and every other personal blog sites on the internet are full of profiles of individuals from every corner of creation.These profiles generally have pictures, addresses and personal information about the individual displayed.We’re a generation of people that say we like privacy but display our personal information for the entire world to see.It’s clear that privacy is not as monumental of a concern for students, as it is for other generations.
Ask any grandparent about the proliferation of their personal information and you’ll quickly see one nervous individual.Older generations will go to any length to protect their address, telephone number and by all means their social security number. There have been enough ’60 Minutes’ specials on identity theft to worry every grandparent on the face of the planet.
Our parents are a little more lax regarding the sharing of their personal information.They use credit cards over the phone and internet, share their social security number upon request from reliable inquirers and simply tear up unwanted credit card offers.Although they are not as strict as our grandparents, they are still for personal privacy and make efforts to protect their personal information.
Then there is the university population.We’re so accustomed to using our social security number as a means of identification, we would share it with a stranger on the street.When asked for credit card information for online orders, we don’t hesitate to share freely.This is best illustrated by our lack of concern with posting our most personal information and thoughts online in a daily blog.
The bottom line is we are not as concerned as our parents and grandparents for several reasons.We grew up with the internet.We don’t have that much to loose even if someone assumed our identity because our bank accounts have a whopping balance of $9.72 and are credit cards are maxed.Finally, maybe we’re just a little more trusting of our fellow man and less wise than our predecessors.