So here are two links to a quick little article and its study I found online about cell phone users and our perceived concepts of privacy. In a lesson given by Professor Yarwood of Penn State’s World Campus Psych424 Applied Social Psychology class, the point that cell phone use in public has compromised the level of privacy for others was made. It is true that “privacy in public” can be in the eye of the beholder, or the eye of the smartphone-holder. According to a study done by Tel Aviv University, a fair majority of smartphone users will say that their devices provide them with plenty of privacy. But most of us know this is not true. Just the other day I was picking up a pizza order and the women behind me was on her cell phone. I can tell you this about her and her life.
- She got caught lying about where she just was, then again lying about whose house she was staying at.
- Her brother doesn’t feed his children.
- If it wasn’t for her courageous, covert trip to the pizza shop, her nieces and nephews would starve.
There I was, waiting for pizza, and my ears were being forcefully violated with someone else’s business. That woman and many other smartphone users seem to be oblivious to the reality of their so called public privacy. I’m not sure she would have had that same conversation with complete strangers. So why did she have that conversation where complete strangers can hear her? Should I have to forfeit the rights of my ears in public because smartphone users can’t confine their own privacy to themselves? Do these smartphone users really expect others to respect their privacy when it isn’t being handled in a private way at all? Well at the end of the first link I provided, the author suggests an idea, which was also brought up in the original study that could lend my ears some relief. Imagine walking into a restaurant and being asked, “Booth or a table?” Now imagine the hostess’ next question being, “smartphone or other?” Well the researchers from the university anticipate the possibly of the public being redesigned around communications technology, the way it was years ago for smokers and non-smokers. One problem with this though. I am a smartphone user. Yikes. Will I have to be categorized before I make myself more aware of the reality of my own privacy in public? I hope not. I already worry about bad seating options in restaurants and airplanes just for having a child!
Communications technologies appear to be changing our social behaviors and the way we interact (or don’t interact) with others (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). We interact with each other differently and avoid each other in new ways. We let voicemail and auto responses like, “I’m driving” reject others, instead of just taking incoming calls. We are letting entire lobbies full of strangers know, you want pizza for dinner, and that you’ll be late because you have to pick up that cream from the pharmacy for that thing you got. Well as interesting as all that sounds, some of us would rather fresh, crisp silence than have clouds of pesky, private conversations be blown into our ears. Perhaps further research, like those being done at Tel Aviv University surrounding the behavioral habits of communications technology users will bring the public to a more communication-conscious state of public awareness.
References
American friends of tel aviv university; smart phones are changing real world privacy settings. (2012). Telecommunications Weekly, 1038. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1015615980?accountid=13158
Perry, D. (2012, May 14). Smartphone Users Less Aware of Lack of Privacy in Public. Retrieved June 21, 2014, from http://www.tomsguide.com/us/smartphone-privacy-study-smartphone-users-public,news-15182.html
PSU 424. (2014). Applied Social Psychology. Lesson 9: Media/ communications Technology. Retrieved June 20, 1014, from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su14/psych424/001/content/10_lesson/02 _page.html
Tags: Applied social psychology, cell phones, communication, communications technology, environment, media, privacy, psych 424, technology
Thank you for sharing your interesting views on technology. I heard an alarming story on the Today Show about now publicly available drones, and the risk posed to public privacy. Drones can essentially fly to your window and peek in on you, or hover over your backyard, follow you around… the risk for this new technology to not only shape new social behaviors, but to open the door to undesirable behaviors is astronomical (Today Show, 2014).
Consider voyeurism or obsessive behavior evolution with new drone technology being readily accessible. We know from our lesson on criminal behavior that deindividuation can provoke someone to engage in criminal behavior they otherwise would not engage in. Someone that would originally not engage in voyeurism because of the risk of capture may be enticed to engage in those behaviors because they are basically guaranteed anonymity through use of an untraceable and elusive drone (Schneider et al, 2012). Furthermore, our social norms and expectations to privacy can be significantly impacted by this new technology. Instead of trusting our kids to behave during a first date or their first time out at a 10PM curfew we send drones to checkup on them… or we send drones around the office to check on workers… the possibilities are endless. Each of these examples demonstrates possible changes to our social interactions, influence, learning and so forth. If drones become as normal cell-phones, just imagine how this impacts our social values, like trust? Our communication and interaction with one another? Not to mention the reinforcement or facilitation of undesirable behaviors, which are otherwise controlled by social forces (PSU, 2014). Will it be a right of passage to be a peeping tom? How will our society evolve to deal with this new technology?
References:
PSU WC. (2014). PSYCH424: Lesson 9, Media/Communications Technology. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su14/psych424/001/content/10_lesson/01_page.html
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-1412976381
Today Show. (2014). Drone Nation, Are We Losing Our Privacy. Retrieved from http://www.today.com/video/today/52883012#52883012