Michael Lesk & Jeffrey MacKie-Mason:
Today, like 2,000 years ago, many seek notoriety at the price of embarrassment, a tarnished repu- tation, or even infamy. In 2007, a new Facebook group came under media attention: 30 Reasons Girls Should Call It a Night counted "nearly 150,000 members and a collection of nearly 5,000 photos of young women passed out on the pavement, collapsed in shrub- bery, peeing in bushes, and vomiting in toilets (or on themselves)."1 Most of the subjects had uploaded the photos themselves.What is it that pushes us to seek fame by misconduct or publicity by sharing embarrassing informa- tion with strangers? How do we reconcile these desires with the apparent need for privacy that surveys keep finding so widespread among the American population? In short, what drives individuals to reveal, and to hide, information about themselves to and from others?
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