subject: I'm Not Giving up My Bank Card or My Twitter ID [print this page] I'm Not Giving up My Bank Card or My Twitter ID
Yesterday, I read a blog article by Chad Catacchio, entitled "Study: Half of social media users fear "revelation of secrets" in which it was reported that - in a new study by a privacy research firm - half of the respondents said that they fear "revelation of secrets" as a consequence of using non-secure social media sites.
No Machine is Going to Dole out My Money
This all reminds me of the arrival of the first ATMs (Automated Teller Machines). I still call them "MAC (Money Access Computers) Machines."
My Gosh. I remember my parent's initial reaction to hearing about MAC machines for the very first time.
" What! A machine to dispense MY money and reconcile MY bank accounts? I'll let that happen? A MACHINE??!! No way!"
This was a typical reaction when these first automated tellers arrived on the scene around the time that Neil Armstrong was taking his first steps on the moon's surface. Things were getting a little too complicated for the older folk a little too fast.
You don't even want to know what my grandparents thought about these newfangled gadgets. No way were their savings coming out from inside of their feather mattress to go into these darn things. In fact, I don't think they ever used an ATM during their remaining years of life.
Well, it's been over 40 years since the first MAC machines came into being. The first modern day ATM was introduced to consumers in 1969 by Chemical Bank. During my college years in the mid 1970's, I relied on the local "MAC Machine" that was near my dorm to draw out my spend money. I visited it, regularly. Of course I did. I was a college kid into ordering pizzas at 11 at night, three to five times per week. Deposits? That's something my parents did for me from back home in those days, I'll have to admit.
ATMs are not only still around, but are doing many more things than they were originally designed to do. There are probably too many features to mention in a short piece like this, but most of us already know that ATMs do just about everything but open cans of food and take out the garbage on collection days.
Online BankingRocketed Our Money AndUs Deeper Into CyberSpace
If it hasn't been enough trying to get used to using ATMs on a 24x7 basis during all these years, we have also been able to do our banking over the Internet for quite some time already.
Over the years, ATMs have been vandalized, stolen, reprogrammed, scammed and violated in so many ways it would be hard to think about other things that could be done to them to steal money and irritate customers . Likewise, online banking systems have been compromised and our personal accounts have also been hacked so as to hijack our personal identities and our savings.
Life Was Swell, Then Came the Hackers
Frankly, I never thought twice about ATM security issues back in the 70's and I never ran into any problems with MACs in those days, either. I must say that my family and I have had many problems with them as well as with online banking, especially during the past ten years. Many more people have and that has heightened fears of anything that runs off a computer device.
Each time, we have had a problem with online banking; we have gotten a bit angrier at the world. This is true. But, these unfortunate incidents have not stopped us from continuing to do business over the Web. This thought has never even crossed our minds. There is no way that we would ever give up our online account access to return to the drive up window of our local bank. Nor, do we expect to order a year's supply of paper checks and deposit slips anytime soon.
Online banking has become an accepted way of life for most of us, if not all. It's become as routine for most of us to bank online as it is to get up early and walk the dog before 7 am each morning. When bad things happen to us, we usually treat them as major inconveniences, not deal breakers. We just pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start all over again. What else can we do?
From Which There is No Return
Few people I know have ever abandoned ATMs or online banking after they've had problems. Why? Because it's gosh darn, too convenient. That's why.
And That Goes For Social Media, Too!
No matter what studies may tell us about the fear of social media; it doesn't seem to deter us from going online. The fears The threats The financial losses. No matter what, none of these modern day conveniences are going away anytime soon.
We will demand only that institutions and those who work intechnology will fix the old breaches and protect us from the new ones, sure to arrive. The systems will always be tested. There will be victories and setbackson both sides, with usin the middle. This is a game of infinite "leap frog," but the public will remain on board regardless of whatever may happen from day to day.Retreat in modern day living is rarely an option. We go forward.
