[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Last week’s on-campus Career Fair sported a multitude of businesses looking to entice students into pursuing employment with their company, and the corporations present were as diverse as the students who visited their booths. Fast food, insurance and philanthropic companies each took part in the booming fair along with, surprisingly, the NSA. The NSA, or National Security Agency, is no stranger to news headlines or the minds of many Americans, though their actions often are. The NSA operates both within and outside our nation’s borders, and they mainly do so using tracking on mobile devices and web histories, according to The Washington Post. The actions of any security agency should be appraised and monitored themselves, but when it comes to knowing what our citizens are doing, Americans young and old make their job quite simple. After all, what need is there to bug our phones and monitor our movements when we willingly telling the world about every meal, conversation and stray thought we have on social media?

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Our social media presence has essentially become the greatest testament to the ways in which we live, but our presence online also carries other significant consequences. The distinction between our public and private worlds has become almost completely blurred. A hundred years ago a meal with a significant other or humorous experiences shared among a few close friends never truly “left the room.” But today, with the use of videos and images, friends across the globe can share in our memories and experiences. This can be a beautiful thing, but there’s one glaring problem — our friends aren’t the only ones watching.

Every one of our actions is monitored and taken into account by businesses and advertisers. The things we “like” and “favorite,” the restaurants we “check in” to, even the things we Google search, give insight to others about our interests and desires. Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram are commercial spaces above all else. It’s no surprise that certain ads will pop up as you roam the web — they were designed for you.

Simply abstaining from using the Internet in this world isn’t a plausible solution. Our lives revolve around remaining connected to those near and far from us in a cyber world of instant gratification and excessive information. While we can’t help our search histories being monitored, we do have total control over the information we make permanent on social media, and with each thoughtless post we throw our right to privacy away. A Privacy Index study conducted by EMC found that 51 percent of respondents were not willing to give up personal information for a better IT experience. How often do we voluntarily answer telemarketers and give the information they ask for? Despite this unwillingness, we continue to post that same valuable personal information on the web for anyone to see and use.

Social media isn’t perfect. Many believe it’s responsible for our inability to communicate off-screen, and when valued for being worded perfectly, shot at the right angle and filtered, posts become synonymous with an endless pursuit of perfection. These potential issues can be avoided based on the way we use social media, but the permanence of what we post simply can’t be argued. Our presence online creates a lasting impression of us for friends, potential employers and businesses. Are you putting your best foot forward?

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