By Olivia Koravos
It is the show that has been gripping audiences ever since it aired last fall on Lifetime, and has surged due to its recent addition to Netflix on a global scale. You is a series with one released season that highlights the potential dangers of oversharing on social media, especially when on a public scale. In other words, it makes watchers want to think twice about locking their public profiles from potential lurking-strangers or maybe even just avoid sharing too much about their personal lives.
The main protagonist, Guinevere Beck (played by Elizabeth Lail) displays internet usage that can be considered as very normal for a young adult in the 21st century. Anything from a tweet that works to hint at her current emotional state to an Instagram post that exposes her present location allows her to be open-game for stalker Joe Goldberg (played by Penn Bradley). Throughout the series, Joe works to become Beck’s “perfect guy” by tracking her every movement on social media, both past, and present. It is the swiftness of his actions that makes this so shocking, for it does not take a web genius to find the information he does. Social-app proficiency is something that can be learned overnight, folks. Possibly sooner.
This show can be eye-opening for those who might be completely unguarded on social media, somewhat closed off, or entirely private. For Joe, when there was a will there was a way, and he was able to read Beck like a book after only knowing her for such a short amount of time. While it is not guaranteed that every person on the internet is going to have to deal with a stealthy, handsome stalker at one point in their lives, there is, of course, a daily risk of having one’s information and/or private life put into the wrong hands.
The question to ask now is whether or not people want to continue to keep their personal lives so out into the open, for all who know how to maneuver the world wide web on a few taps to see. Locked, or unlocked? Netflix’s You might help one figure out the best answer.