Yixue, Noora and Alex are serious about protecting their online privacy

How many of you are actually aware of digital privacy? With the development of this era, our modern life has become highly associated with digital devices and its use. People now spend more and more time on their digital devices, both for their work and entertainment needs. Students mostly spend a variety of time in digital devices like smartphones, iPads and computers because it is an effective way to relax themselves after a long day of studying. While they enjoy the convenience of digital development, however, we are likely to ignore concerns digital media may bring  with it. In fact, there are many people confronting problems from digital privacy. This article is going to explore this topic by interviewing two international students from Trinity College.

We did our interview with two students from Trinity College. We asked them about their personal experience associated with digital privacy and whether they are aware of privacy protection. Megan Tan told us that she is very conscious about digital privacy. She had her Instagram account hacked by a stranger before and she had to go to customer support in order to get her account back. She believes digital privacy is important because nowadays things are being increasingly uploaded electronically online and it is coming to a point that digital privacy and real privacy are becoming the same. Megan’s personal strategy of protecting her digital privacy is that she will read privacy agreements carefully beforehand when she decides to download an app. If there is anything she does not agree on, she will not download it.

Another interviewee, Maggie Guang, told us that she had her account hacked before as well. What is more, there are even some criminal activities involved in her case. Some criminals got to know Maggie’s information and used her digital information to commit crimes. As a result, Maggie’s personal privacy was violated and affected by this event negatively. Maggies’s strategy of protecting her digital privacy is that she uses protection film to avoid others seeing her phone. Turn off location service. Delete the chat and communication records. Lock the phone by adding the secret code. Never post information on social media because there are people you don’t even know.

The necessity of protecting digital privacy is highlighted. Everyone, especially students and young people are encouraged to be alert for digital privacy in order to protect yourself. For any further information, please check this link.