It’s funny how people talk about world events they don’t understand.
Conversations switch from mundane topics to the most recent developments concerning the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Today’s technology has created the social norm that it’s OK to eavesdrop and overhear other people’s conversations.
For example, take live tweeting. Yes, we’re passing on “news,” but more importantly we’re adding in our own judgments on a certain matter.
Live tweeting allows us to use technology to publicly broadcast our eavesdropping tendencies.
A woman named Carrie Mantha sat at a restaurant bar in Manhattan on Tuesday and said she overheard an absurd conversation that took place on a Tinder date.
Since Mantha was alone at this bar, she couldn’t just chuckle at the tête-à-tête, she had to share it with the world.
In her tweets, she spoke about the conceited 40-something-year-old man who was informing his “date” (in quotations because it was his third Tinder date of the day) about his various hobbies.
One tweet said, “‘These ISIS guys are already in the city. They’re driving cabs everywhere.’ #hideyourkidshideyourwife.”
Even though Mantha doesn’t directly state how she feels about his quote, she uses hashtags throughout her live account to indirectly imply how ridiculous and presumptuous his comments are.
With technology we have the ability to publicly admit that we’re eavesdropping and then offer commentary.
This kind of amusing recounts seem fine because of the anonymous aspect. Even though we don’t know who was at the date at the bar, it still proves to be funny.
People say and overhear some pretty weird and hilarious things, and once they’re shared on social media, they’re transformed into public entertainment.
The sharing aspect of technology is like a megaphone — when little things go viral, they’re popular for a reason.
Think of the things you hear while you’re out on the Bloomington streets.
I have found some true gems that had me lol-ing. Everything from strange collections to a prediction of Cheez-Its ruling the world while inferior cheese-flavored crackers rot in hell.
When we hear these funny conversations, the temptation to share them is strong. If it made us laugh, it would probably make our friends laugh, and there’s no harm in that. And just think of all the Twitter attention and Instagram likes.
But regardless of your intentions behind sharing these hilarious instances, it’s still an invasion of privacy.
Information is spread faster and with less effort today than ever before, whether it be through pictures, texts and tweets. Technology has made eavesdropping socially acceptable. We see those white stars turn gold and instantly forget that we took these words, these stories, from another person. And likely without their ?permission.
I highly doubt Mantha asked the dude she was quoting if she could tweet his opinions about ISIS.
We can’t control what we hear, except for blasting our iPods as loud as possible. Overhearing conversations is inevitable.
But you have complete control over what you post on social media. Posting someone else’s conversation is an invasion of privacy, and more consideration should be put into these posts.
jlkarl@indiana.edu
