Introduction
Privacy and social behavior in today’s environment of digitalization and globalization are two important concepts that intertwine and interact in many ways. They have been studied extensively in various academic fields, including sociology, psychology, information security, and ethics. In general, social behavior characterizes the characteristics of people interacting with each other in any environment. On the other hand, the notion of privacy directs to the personal data that should be protected from others’ access and characterizes the ability to control them.
Discussion
In current conditions, the intersection of these two concepts has become most noticeable with the widespread use of communication platforms and social networks in virtual space. The increase in opportunities for social interaction has led to an expansion of the potential list of threats to private information. It has adjusted standard patterns of behavior to account for this information (Balebako et al., 2019). It is the reason why combating data breaches, cyber harassment, and hacking into online accounts for unauthorized access has devoted much of society’s attention.
However, behavioral changes in today’s realities are not always precisely related to the loss of privacy. The ease and accessibility of communication while retaining relative anonymity when necessary has provoked increased social comparison, increased narcissism, and decreased levels of empathy and empathy. Social comparison, common as a standard of social behavior, involves comparing oneself to others in specially created environments. Such behavior leads to a lowering of one party’s self-esteem and may cause jealousy or envy. Accordingly, those affected by this phenomenon can reduce their activity in social activities or show aggression and negativity unacceptable in society.
Falling levels of empathy in human social behavior are also provoked by digitalization and the tendency for individuals to become isolated from society as a result of online communication. It directly affects the decrease in sensitivity to the needs and feelings of others, which is also not conducive to the development of a civilized society. The growing lack of responsibility due to digital anonymity can distort social behavior to hostile and inadequate forms.
Privacy can be characterized as a person’s right to personal information, and this concept is not new. However, the greatest threats to this kind of data have emerged in the current era. The reason for this is the uploading of sensitive information into the network and the vulnerability of this network to criminal activities. Moreover, users’ lack of digital literacy often contributes to their lack of control over such information. The mentioned social platforms, electronic stores, websites, and databases collect personal information, which they can further dispose of at their discretion.
Conclusion
Certainly, the principle of privacy itself is not derived from modern processes. The right of the individual to be alone and to have private affairs or interests was, in the original sense, denoted by this concept. Nevertheless, due to the movement of a large part of human life into virtual space, it is in the digital context that privacy is most often interpreted. For example, even survey and test data are private, but all nuances to ensure their security must be thoroughly considered when conducting research or publishing them (Balebako et al., 2019). Moreover, concerns about the safety of any personal data or its leakage often cause changes in social behavior, which confirms the close relationship between the concepts. In some cases, those anxieties can lead to the manifestation of paranoid or aggressive deviations in a person’s character. Furthermore, it is likewise one of the reasons that it is essential to be mindful of the dependence of social behavior on privacy and digital space when evaluating them in today’s realities.
Reference
Balebako, R., O’Mahony, A., Davis, P. K., & Osoba, O. (2019). Ethical and privacy issues in social-behavioral research. In Social-Behavioral Modeling for Complex Systems (pp. 49–61). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Web.