Do We Care Less About Our Privacy Than Our Parents?

Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare are all voluntary services. To use the service free of charge, users give up some of their personal information. Whether this is demographics (age, gender, race, income) or psychographics (behaviors, attitudes), it seems people don’t mind to release their info. Is the new generation of tech-savvy citizens ignorant with privacy?
CNET had an article from last March that discussed possible reasons why no one minds giving up some of their privacy. Today, people are more comfortable to express themselves behind a computer screen than in person. Whether it is questions about sex, pregnancy, sicknesses or reviews of a product, people feel safe typing their words. Teenagers will go to Google before dad or mom to ask for answers for their personal problems. This applies to social networking as well.
According to the article on CNET, the acceptance of releasing personal information is a generational change. Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerburg, said his company is based around these new social norms. A 2008 survey taken by Harris Interactive, a full service research company, revealed that only 41 percent of American teens were concerned about releasing their personal information to marketers. This is a significant decrease compared to 1998’s results of 80 percent being concerned.
It seems that the benefits from releasing personal information outweigh the negative effects. Quick and cost efficient means to reach specific target audiences is just one of the more obvious advantages. Yesterday there was an online article about Google’s “Person Finder” helping victims of a New Zealand earthquake. The website allowed families and loved ones to search for missing people. If no results were found, they could post a message or contact info for the missing. Helping victims of a tragic event proves that there is more to sharing information for than just for marketing purposes.
The article also approaches the issue from a new standpoint, psychology. The author included a quote from a psychology professor from the University of Utah. He said, “If one can choose how much or how little to divulge about oneself to another voluntary, privacy is maintained.” According to this professor, as long as Facebook stays completely voluntary, it is not invading our privacy.