Recent evidence shows that: 1) 62 percent of US adults get news on social media; 2) the most popular fake news stories were more widely shared on Facebook than the most popular mainstream news stories; 3) many people who see fake news stories report that they believe them; and 4) the most discussed fake news stories recently have tended to favor Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Putting these facts together, a number of people have suggested that Donald Trump would not have been elected president were it not for the influence of fake news. Not to say one candidate was better than the other, but this goes to show how big of a problem fake news really is, with it being able possibly change the outcome of something as important as an election.

There are 2 parts to security and privacy; 1)national security/privacy from your own government; and 2) personal privacy and security from others.

There are two major events that show the significance of this problem, the first being big NSA scandal. 

A man named Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the CIA, left the US after leaking to the media details of extensive internet and phone surveillance by American intelligence being done daily. This included the saving of 200 million SMS messages a day, recording or listening in on phone calls,  and taping fiber optic cabling that contained global communications. The big question for this part of security and privacy is whether it is necessary to keep our country safe from terrorists, or if we have the right to security and privacy of our own government.

Personal privacy and security has been a problem ever since the internet came to be mainstream and hackers started to learn the ins and outs of computers. A good example of this happened in 2014 when more than 100 celebrities had personal/private pictures and videos hacked from their phones and leaked on to 4chan. This sort of thing still happens… daily, not only for personal photos but also for personal information such as credit card numbers, social securities etc. There are plenty examples of personal information being stolen in mass quantities, one being the 2013 hack of Target. The hackers stole 40 million customers credit and debit card data.

Technology has changed the relationships of families and friends for the worse. Distracted by their laptops, TV’s, smartphones, and video games, families can’t have a friendly attitude towards each other as they used to in the past. Before the creation of these devices, families would sit together around the table and play games together go out to eat, and many other forms of entertainment that have mostly become obsolete.

Sometime in the very near future we will be able to choose and edit our children's genetics before they are born. Now there is the obvious good side of using this to avoid serious medical diseases, however there is also the other side of whether we should use it any farther.