“Just wait for a few minutes, I am changing…” responded Aisha to her mother’s continuous knocking on the door. “Why can’t I be alone in my room for a while? I am tired of answering so many questions and need some space before it is permanently taken away from my life.” A 17-year-old teenager is turning into a rebellious and strong headed-person due to her parent’s unremitting interference in her life.

It is always wise for parents to keep an eye on their children during their growing years in order to guide them in the right direction, but this shouldn’t be done at the cost of their privacy.

Privacy is a prerequisite for a healthy relationship as every individual has a right to live according to their own likes and dislikes without interference. Going by the literal meaning of the term, privacy is time away from others which the person utilises to ponder on ideas generated, tasks done and decisions made without being publicly exposed. One can meditate and utilise this practice in healing one’s mind and soul to become a better human being.

Many people in our society do not realise how healthy it is to give themselves and others time and space to rejuvenate the thought process. Intruding upon and continuously peeping into someone’s personal life is highly disrespectful and unethical. Be it your children, parents, neighbours or friends, no one encourages peeping Toms and they are always looked down upon.

Intrusion in privacy often causes inconvenience to others as the intruder does not consider the other person’s need for solitude and just wants to satisfy his/her curiosity. For instance, during Ramazan, Sania along with her few cousins planned to go out for Sehri and told her elderly mother that her sister would pick her up in the morning. Since her mother was old and could not fast there was no need to prepare Sehri, and so she kept sleeping. On their return, Sania found her mother awake before time. Sania and her cousins were shocked to learn that her sleep was disturbed when one of their neighbours called her on her cell phone, to inquire if she was alright or was she going to the hospital in an emergency as she had noticed some hustle bustle during the night.

There are a zillion situations like this when our privacy is intruded upon by our neighbours, friends and relatives, spreading misconception about our personal life. In our society apart from teenagers, spouses are also the victims. Continuous scrutiny of their cell phones, emails, wardrobes and drawers would lead to a detrimental relationship. Invading upon someone’s privacy could be one of the causes for breaking an affiliation and losing someone.

In recent years, with the advent of technology, privacy at work has also been brought down to zero. Companies are progressively using CCTV cameras to monitor employees more closely. This monitoring is conducted due to the increasing cases of harassment, employees using office resources for other activities in their cubicles during work hours and nose-diving losses in a company’s profits. Although, this intrusion has increased profits and productivity of employees in a few organisations, some employees feel that their privacy has been violated.

Another most integral ice-breaker is the media. There is no privacy of a public figure in the modern so-called free media. Media can go to any length to scrutinise the lives of public icons and reveal every single detail of their personal lives. From Lady Diana to Meera, the media has placed these public figures under strain and tries not to miss a single chance to capture their moves, either public or highly personal. However, their personal moves can leave the public with an awe-inspiring expression and can lead to set different perceptions of their each and every act.

It is believed that one’s integrity and beliefs are related to one’s job description, but it is the other way round. For example, if a public icon has failed in keeping healthy relationships, it doesn’t mean he is not successful in his area of expertise. It’s just like spoiling the brand image of a product that is quite valuable and flourishing otherwise.

Thus, invading someone’s privacy is just hacking around and sometimes hacking off. This world is not like any other reality show where one is continuously peeping into and making private life a public spectacle. Following the motto ‘Live and let live’ would ease the life of a few peeping Toms and also lessen their hunger for intruding upon other’s privacy.