By Ava Dinges
I was out at the club a few weeks ago when a cute guy asked me for a dance. Many dances later, it seemed that he was interested in me. But when it came time for me to say goodbye, a strange thing occurred. Rather than ask for my phone number, the boy just asked for my full name.
The next morning, when I checked my Facebook, I had a brand new friend request. It was from none other than the stranger I had met at the club the night before. It now seemed quite obvious why he had asked for my full name; he had wanted to look me up on Facebook.
I naturally accepted his friend request and with one click to his profile, I already knew his major, favorite TV shows, religious views, and current online status. With a few more clicks, I was looking at pictures of him from all the way back in high school. Needless to say, I already knew a great deal of information about the man, yet just the night before, I was just barely learning his name. But unfortunately, sharing information on Facebook goes both ways. With one click, I too, gave that boy the power to learn much more information about me than he ever could have from a piece of paper with 10 digits written on it.
It’s scary to think how casually friendships on Facebook are treated. Most people are hesitant to give out their number to strangers, yet wouldn’t think twice about accepting that same person as an online friend. But when you consider just how much information you are sharing, the real weight of an online friendship becomes apparent.
Just another example of the many ways social networking sites have changed our views on privacy.