Imagine having your pop culture icon sending you messages about her love for Lucifer. For Britney Spears fans, these disturbing messages were sent today. A hacker broke into her Twitter account, posting Tweets that read, “I give myself to Lucifer every day for it to arrive as quickly as possible. Glory to Satan!” While this is a joke by a power hungry hacker, it still should serve as a reminder of the fallibility of the Internet. We are in constant danger of people who are not who they claim to be and in danger of hackers stealing our account and identity. This makes me question, are we better served through the new influx of technology?
In the case of social networking sites, I think their prior appeal has faded. Sites like Facebook used to be a spot to post pictures and keep up with friends. It now transformed into a beast, where students post their every emotion, from election results to game scores. When I access my Facebook account, I often wonder, who cares? Why do people run to their computers or use their cell phones to post that they have a busy day? If they were so busy, they would not have the time to Facebook and instead would dedicate their time to the tasks of the day. Furthermore, Facebook is now overcrowded with older people boasting about their children. The former site for college students is now the place for stay-at-home moms to report about their children’s sicknesses and accomplishments. Again I wonder who cares.
Although I do not have a Twitter account, I see the effect of these accounts. When celebrity Miley Cyrus deleted her account, entertainment reporters and fans were in an uproar. They did not sympathize with the teenage girl who wanted some privacy, instead they became the victim, feeling like Cyrus turned her back on them. This type of reaction exhibits how Twitter is destroying the lines between fan and friend. By hearing about every action of a celebrity’s day, the fans develop a closer relationship. As a result, fans think they are a part of the celebrity’s life and become even more obsessed. Although it is good to have communication between celebrities and fans, it is not healthy to have this type of communication.
A solution to the surge of Internet communication is setting clear limits and pushing ourselves to follow the limitations each day. Status updates are becoming an addiction for some users. To cure the addiction, people need to realize exactly how much time they are wasting on these sites. Once the problem becomes apparent, they can make a time-chart of social network site use. Limiting ourselves to a half hour each morning on the sites is both the healthy and responsible way to use them.
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