Facebook has launched its new Facebook Home app, which works with the Android phone operating system to make it easy to access Instagram, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Facebook Camera all within one app that appears on the users’ home screen. This has brought up much debate over whether Facebook is becoming too much a part of our lives. One of the main arguments over this new feature is that it is just another way for Facebook to know everything we do, so they can sell more advertising. Facebook has responded to these claims by saying that they won’t be collecting any more data than what they normally collect; Facebook Home is just a way to make social networking easier for the user.
It could also be said that our privacy is becoming an outdated concept, with private companies being able to buy our information for advertising purposes, and also with the overabundance of information we share on social media on a regular basis. Technology is coming closer to a world where every part of our lives is recorded, and the internet being the internet, only knows how to remember and retain information, it does not forget or lose anything. It is also basically inescapable if you are using any kind of electronic device to not have your every move tracked online. One way that this increasing lack of privacy has sparked is the government launching and official “National Data Privacy Day”, which is to raise awareness among teenagers and young adults about the importance of maintaining what little privacy they may have left. It is important for all of us to remember how pervasive the internet is in the data age, with privacy being invaded and data distribution a big commodity among internet advertisers.