Trade off between Connectivity and Privacy

While some people consider that the internet is a threat to human civilization and refuse to use social media due to their fear that their privacy would be violated, many others take benefits of its wealth.

I have always enjoyed connecting with people whether in real life or “virtually.” At work, I enjoy my advising part of my job and use social media to connect with my advisees and friends. Of course the Internet is like a glass house where everything is transparent and there is no place to hide. The multitude ways we give away information about ourselves has not only increased our social visibility and made it easier for us to find each other, but also to be examined in public.

Remaining disconnected can bring blessed privacy and comfort to some. Conversely, it can be a sad and loss of many wonderfully joyous moments and important opportunities. We want nothing more than to connect, and the companies that are connecting us electronically want to know about us especially that we are handing in an enormous amount of data about our daily life, much of which we might not trust our friends with. So what am I really gaining from being part of this giant new world? 

Social media for me is just like a meditation session, it allows me, after a long day of work, to reflect on my day and the world. Maybe all of us like to have our personal moments, a little private corner created over the Ether where we could go off alone without fears. To day-dream and speak out our mind. To realize who we are and the extents of the good we are capable of. 

“Using the Internet as a vehicle to work with people is fascinating. It's sort of a Pandora's box of energy for me.”―Jon Anderson

We are all aware that the advances of social media applications constitute a greater danger to our privacy as individuals. Privacy by definition is that there are things that belong solely to us and should not be open to the scrutiny of others because the root of privacy is that not everything belongs to everyone.

However, social networking survives on connectivity and sharing of information. Indeed, social media is dependent on the disclosure of our personal information and if this is valued more highly than privacy, then the protection of our individual data over the Internet might become unconfirmed.

“To be left alone is the most precious thing one can ask of the modern world.” ― Anthony Burgess

On the one hand, many of us fear what others read and know about us. And on the other hand, we fear that what people miss about us (after reading), could be filled with assumptions. We might assume that they care so much about us, by what they do or don’t read about us. Then, the mixture of our own worries and egos overshadows that what other people think of us is their problem not ours, to worry about.

Finding a balance between privacy and connectivity is complicated, and there is a trade-off between more security and the benefit of being active on the net. Furthermore, gaining trust in social media is essential and needs time to be built up:

• Know your strengths and weaknesses, and be open about them. Being vulnerable shows that you are human.
• Tell the truth. Don’t lie. “When in doubt, tell the truth.” – Mark Twain
• Distinguish facts from personal opinions. Using our imagination to fill in the missing bits could distort the reality of things.
• Do now what you say you would do. Procrastination could kill your credibility.

Leadership Skills:Super-connectivity is a Two-way Energizer

Most of my work at the university revolves around communication(s) as I teach Computer Network courses and work as a department head and academic advisor to a large number of students. Working in academia is a blessing for me as it allows me to be in contact with and serve many students on a daily basis.

An example of being so blessed is as follows. In my first year of teaching, there was a student, Nabil, who missed the first couple of lectures of my course. He came to my office, obviously quite worried about how I would react to his absences. When I saw his anxious face, I asked him gently why he had missed the lectures and listened to him patiently. He told me that he was working on a part-time basis to pay for his education fees, and the company sent him abroad between the two semesters. As a result, he had to miss a couple of his lectures. He was a senior student and was due to graduate by the end of that semester—assuming he passed all his courses. The university had a strict rule on the number of allowed absences, and Nabil had reached that limit. After realizing that the work he was doing was actually relevant to the course I was teaching, I allowed him to join the class and offered help with the missed materials. Nabil passed the course and graduated that semester. During the graduation ceremony, he ran to me and thanked me profusely. I felt at that moment very grateful for my teaching career because it allows me to make a difference in people’s lives.

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Connecting Bits, Words and People

As the head of my university’s computer science department, I try to keep a protective eye on many students. One of them recently visited me for the first time and asked for help. I inquired whether he was a new student, and he answered that this was in fact his third year at the university but he had only passed a few courses and was at serious risk of being terminally suspended. So I checked his transcript to identify his problem and was shocked by what I saw. Why had he not sought help earlier? His answer was that he previously had bad experiences with two different advisers and thought no one could ever help him. I wondered aloud what had gone wrong with them, and he said in a melancholy way, “They did not care to listen or help!” 

“Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.”  ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Most of my work at the university revolves around communication(s). Communication and communications are two similar words—differing only with the letter “s”—but their usages are quite different. While communication relates mainly to connecting people through speech and words, the latter relates to connecting electronic devices through the transmission of bits.

As I teach Computer Network courses, work as the department head and dispense academic advice, I frequently cross the boundaries between the two different worlds of communication, exchanging knowledge, skills and wisdom between these two worlds; I will explain how I do so.

The basic foundation of both communication and communications is about creating a link between two entities. The quality of that connection is highly dependent on the predisposition of the entities involved. After establishing the connection, one of the entities starts to talk while the other needs to listen. So here again, whether the second node is listening or just hearing makes a big difference in the overall connection. 

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." — Jimi Hendrix

Now, let me go beyond establishing a link to creating a reliable network among the involved members. By means of an analogy with basic computer network protocols, I can state that creating a network requires the following tasks:

• Connect with everyone, one person at a time, listen well and learn about their status. 
• Synchronize the connections; make sure that people can understand each other.
• Balance the flow of information and ensure that no one is overwhelmed with the sent data or requested jobs.
• Be constantly aware of the possible occurrence of errors and give a helping hand in solving them.
• Be the glue among the different members, and create a resilient and efficient inter-network in spite of any possible differences.
• Provide a good interface to the external world by using all available modes of interconnection and social media.

I enjoy my work greatly because it enables me to move constantly between the two realms of communication and allows me to have a high level of interaction. Students talk to me, and I listen intently and empathize with them. They share with me their joy and problems. When I take time to listen, it's amazing what I can learn from what they say and most importantly what they haven’t said.

Part of being a good communicator, or a superconnector as we call it now, is the ability to accept others for who they are and acknowledge that we are all different in the way we perceive the world, in what we like or dislike.  It is also important to let others feel that they are not alone, we care for them and they can trust us. In this way, they can talk to us freely and their problems become less overwhelming and manageable. Just like my student who decided to change his major after our discussion and promised to keep coming for advice and help. 

“Let's remind ourselves that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing." — Pablo Neruda