Steven Johnson's Essay 'Sharing Is A Trap'

Some say that social media allows them to stay in contact. They proclaim that meeting new people from all over the world is exciting. In his essay “Social Connections”, Steven Johnson describes how technology is separating society. He also describes how the ones closest to us feel distant (423). The main problem is everyone using social media sites are not who they claim to be on-line. Many of these sites don’t require identity authentication. In fact, the only requirements for an account is email verification. Yahoo and Gmail offers free account to anyone over the age of 13. Some sites go further, with asking participants to verify they are not a robot by entering scrambled letters from the screen. On-line predators are everywhere and don’t

In his essay “Sharing is a Trap”, Andrew Keen says, “On today’s internet everything we do – from our use of ecommerce, location services and email to online search, advertising and entertainment- is increasingly open and transparent” (426). Many people are caught up in the social media frenzy and don’t take the time to the read the privacy policies set forth by the social media sites. As a result of inaccurate knowledge, people fail to understand that whatever they post, will forever be a part of an accessible virtual realm. Approval from peers is a prominent component of social life & gives the illusion of being a part of something greater. Subsequently users become obsessed with the number of followers they have and will accept anyone’s request to view their page. They are so self-absorbed with perception of their own importance, they post details of their everyday life, such as vacation trips, what they eat, and where they hang out. Also people intentionally create deceitful personas of themselves to show the world. In addition to publicizing their whereabouts, people post inappropriate pictures such as explicit photos and drug use. This poses a problem because they don’t know who is actually behind the keyboard. On-line predators are able to collect information for their own personal gain. A vast amount of people carelessly post pictures inside their home showcasing valuables – including