Dilution of Social Media Privacy: Security Vulnerabilities and Psychological Implications

RATNAKIRTI ROY & DIPJYOTI DAS
Inspiria Knowledge Campus, India

Abstract
In the contemporary society, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Instagram are not merely words, but are synonymous to a person’s identity. Though the extensive use of social media is capable of rendering a huge amount of benefits in terms of ease of communication, lightening marketing reach and so on, the graver sides of the same requires thorough research to evaluate its role in modelling the psychological structure of the society and the possible threats it poses to the new generation who are glued to the use of social media platforms on a daily basis. This paper aims to perform a deep dive into the psychological effects of social media platforms on the young population and attempts to experimentally relate the same with dilution of social media privacy as a possible side effect. At the same time, possible alternatives and corrective measures to such a problem are also suggested.

Keywords: Digital communication, social media, social space, privacy infringement, social identity

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Ratnakirti Roy is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Applications at Inspiria Knowledge Campus (a management college), Siliguri, India. His broad research interests include computational photography, steganography, water-marking and cyber psychology. His specific interests in these domains include aesthetic evaluation of digital photographs, secure data hiding systems and behavioural aspects of humans over social media.
Dipjyoti Das is an assistant professor in the Department of Media Science at Inspiria Knowledge Campus (a management college), Siliguri, India. His specific research interests include new media and its social implications, theological understanding of the mainstream and alternative media and impact of the digital platform in the dynamics of contemporary journalism.