People share too much online: Vasiliki Tsiakopoulous

In the past few decades, rapid technological advancements have rendered the internet virtually (pun intended) accessible at all times. It has become intertwined with our everyday lives for better or worse—in this case, worse. My hot take is that people have gotten too comfortable sharing personal information online.

It is true that the internet is a place where people can connect and form relationships with others from all over the world, but it is also a place where everything you do or say is on display. It was once a general rule of thumb that people should remain as anonymous as possible in online spaces. However, things have taken a turn in recent years.

People have grown accustomed to sharing their names, age and other personal information online, including things that are massively triggering to them. This amount of trust in complete strangers makes users extremely vulnerable. Of course, it is a rather cynical point of view to always expect the worst of people, but one cannot expect every person they interact with to have their best interests at heart.

This level of comfort in online spaces may stem from the connections people form with others, allowing them to form wider and more diverse social circles than they would in-person. These relationships can serve as a form of escapism if they do not have particularly healthy relationships offline. Often this results in a false sense of security online, prompting people to overshare with expectations of having similar positive experiences to those they have had previously. This is not the only viable reason for this phenomenon. People may overshare for a myriad of reasons, even going so far as to expect others to follow in their footsteps, but it is no understatement that oversharing has become far too common online.

Logan Sargeant wasn’t that bad: Maya North

Logan Sargeant, at the end of the day, wasn’t a bad driver. While he consistently finished outside the points and crashed many times, he wasn’t that bad. One thing to remember is that Formula One is the pinnacle of motorsports, featuring the 20 best open-wheel racing drivers in the world. If we examine the rest of Sargeant’s career, he achieved many notable accomplishments.

In 2019, at the age of 18, he finished 3rd at the Macau Grand Prix, a notoriously challenging circuit where 7-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton only placed 14th. Additionally, in the 2021 Le Mans Cup Series, he won two out of six races with Iron Lynx.

During his time in Formula One with Williams, Sargeant was dealt a tough hand. He often had fewer upgrades than his teammate Alex Albon, faced constant media pressure to perform better, and lacked support from his team and team principal. But when you consider how tough it is for rookies now, with barely any testing and, for some, jumping straight into one of the most competitive eras of F1, it puts things a bit more in perspective. Sargeant especially had little time to prepare for his rookie season as he was brought onto the team as a late resort as Latifi left. What stood out to me was how he kept his head down and kept pushing. He strove to do his best in each race.

Another thing to consider is that Sargeant managed to bring home points for Williams at the 2023 United States Grand Prix, becoming the first American to score in F1 since Michael Andretti in the 90’s. He also consistently improved his pace over his season and a half, narrowing the gap to Albon in both qualifying and race finishes.

His growth showed potential, even if the final stats didn’t show that. He had moments where his racing talent clearly shone through and clearly was, and I hope still is, passionate about racing, and I hope he receives the second chance in another racing series he deserves.

More “Hot Takes”