Does the Internet know you better than you know you?

Today, anything you post online can be visible to friends, families and even future employers. It has made me very aware that when you post something online, it typically never goes away. However, what about the information online about you that you never knew was out there? After googling myself I was surprised at the results that appeared. The first link stated my name, the town I was from, the year of college I was in and an overview of my summer internship this past summer. Although none of this was negative, I did not expect a full summary of myself to come up online. I continued to scroll and found old articles about myself from playing competitive softball in high school or volunteer opportunities I was apart of when I was 15 years old. 

    Just like every female 19 year old, I use a variety of social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook. However, my social media accounts did not pop up when I searched “Julia Del Viscio”. I was confused at first but quickly realized that all of my accounts are under my nickname “Julz”. Once I searched “Julz Del Viscio”, all of my Instagram and Facebook links and posts popped up.

    It has become so simple for others to find information about other people by simply typing in their name. Besides people posting their own information on social media, companies play a big part in why personal information like phone numbers and addresses are public. Whenever you sign up for a social media app, you are asked for your email. This automatically links the social media app to your email and possibly find information through your email. I have given my email out to sign up for websites or apps without thinking about these possible risks. The reason that companies get away with this is because people never read their long policies that could state that they are allowed to do so. We all quickly scroll through the policies just to click the “Accept” button and start using the app. Click here to find out what the first article about me on google was!