Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Be Not Afraid of Privacy

TPB1988's picture

After watching the “Private Lives” episode of House I began to really analyze privacy as a whole. From this episode I interpreted privacy as being similar to a very exclusive club and once one is married another member is added. The problem begins to arise when  the club goes from being exclusive to all inclusive when personal blogs are added to the mix. Frankie says in the episode that people behave badly when they think no one is watching and that she would not be honest if she chose which parts of her life to blog about. Choosing to end her privacy is her choice, but bringing her husband's life into the blog as well makes me question the boundaries of personal blogs.
    Personal blogs allow an outlet for the blogger as well as for the audience because “no one has to be alone again”, but how can one truly be open with their lives on the internet and respectful of others at the same time?  Taylor says “ I wanna be a big part of your life,  not their lives” yet Frankie insists on making their lives open to the world through her blog. Is that her decision alone? Is it fair that blogs can strip an unwilling bystander of their privacy? Although I do understand that a blogger is free to write about anything, I still do not think it is just for them to intrude on the privacy of others and decide how to represent them. When one has a personal blog it is easy to get carried away and play God, yet a certain amount of respect has to exist for the others in his/her life. If were Taylor I would have divorced Frankie a long time ago because decisions concerning privacy, or “membership to the club”, are not hers alone. This whole episode just brought to life the issues I have with PERSONAL blogs including everyone around. After all,  “everyone needs secrets”.
After watching the “Private Lives” episode of House I began to really analyze privacy as a whole. From this episode I interpreted privacy as being similar to a very exclusive club and once one is married another member is added. The problem begins to arise when  the club goes from being exclusive to all inclusive when personal blogs are added to the mix. Frankie says in the episode that people behave badly when they think no one is watching and that she would not be honest if she chose which parts of her life to blog about. Choosing to end her privacy is her choice, but bringing her husband's life into the blog as well makes me question the boundaries of personal blogs.
    Personal blogs allow an outlet for the blogger as well as for the audience because “no one has to be alone again”, but how can one truly be open with their lives on the internet and respectful of others at the same time?  Taylor says “ I wanna be a big part of your life,  not their lives” yet Frankie insists on making their lives open to the world through her blog. Is that her decision alone? Is it fair that blogs can strip an unwilling bystander of their privacy? Although I do understand that a blogger is free to write about anything, I still do not think it is just for them to intrude on the privacy of others and decide how to represent them. When one has a personal blog it is easy to get carried away and play God, yet a certain amount of respect has to exist for the others in his/her life. If were Taylor I would have divorced Frankie a long time ago because decisions concerning privacy, or “membership to the club”, are not hers alone. This whole episode just brought to life the issues I have with PERSONAL blogs including everyone around. After all,  “everyone needs secrets”.

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
1 + 2 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.