In today’s world, people have forgotten what privacy means.
Being open is great, but there is a difference between breaking taboos by normalizing discussions about periods, body hair or mental health and just having zero social awareness.
Whether it’s oversharing online or talking on speakerphone in public, the line between private and public has disappeared, and it’s about time we draw it back.
The other day, I was on the metro commuting to school when a girl picked up the phone. What started as a peaceful train ride turned into a front-row seat to her entire health report. She began speaking loudly enough for everyone in the metro car to hear.
Her doctor had called about something related to her vitamins, and my first thought was, “Yes, girl, you should take your vitamins, that’s what my mom always told me.” Shortly after, the conversation went from “I’m doing a lot better” to a detailed description of her menstrual cycle, intestine function and hormone dysregulation over the last few days.
I don’t know her name, but I know that she had been bleeding way more than normal and that she had been constipated the entire week. She talked as if she was having a conversation about how warm the weather was in Miami.
Moral of the story: I didn’t need to know this. Nobody should ever know this much about a stranger.
Coming from the Latin community, I would say that we are much more relaxed about privacy and personal space than Americans and the rest of the world. We hug people we are just meeting as if they are old friends, physical touch is 70% part of a conversation and we have no issue getting in each other’s business.
But hearing this stranger’s in-depth health history was too much, even for me.
It made me wonder, have we lost our sense of privacy?
It’s hard not to consider how influencer culture contributes to this. “Day in my life” vlogs and nonstop online life updates create a world where it almost feels like experiences don’t count unless they’re posted somewhere. Instead of living in the moment, people are recording it, making sure it looks good for everyone else. People can’t even eat a meal before taking a photo. Snapchat does not need to “eat first.”
Eduarda Ventura, a journalism student from the University of São Paulo, shares how exhausting this expectation is.
“No wonder our social batteries feel shorter and more drained than ever. It’s exhausting to be this exposed all the time. We’ve become socially anxious because we don’t get those moments of solitude like we used to before cell phones. No breaks, no true privacy.”
In addition to the role of social media, technology has impacted personal privacy through the ubiquity of cameras and concerns over more facial surveillance and recognition. The same question remains: where do we draw the line?
You don’t need scientific research or a sociology degree to know that some things should just be kept private
So before you hit post or put your life on speakerphone, ask yourself: Does the entire metro really need to know this? Chances are, it doesn’t.
