Why value privacy?

Any person needs to be able to rest from scrutiny and presence of others and the world at large. This person needs to be able to relax, be wholly himself, breathe freely, shut out the demands and prying of others so that he can refresh and restore himself in a private space of his personal, intimate life and his own thoughts. One form of torture and a highly damaging one from a psychological point of view is to keep a person under a constant scrutiny and exposure. A large part of the importance of privacy as a human need, or better, right, is that helps people keep at least some control over how to appear to the world. Most people seek to be acceptable to society, for obvious psychological and practical reasons. It could be awkward and even disabling to have certain of one’s sentiments and personal habits publicly known, especially any that are conventionally unacceptable. A degree of privacy is fundamental for autonomy and psychological health. Yet, at the same time, most people are intensely curious about other people’s lives and doings. This explains the relish people have for gossip. There seems to be a contradiction between our voyeuristic interest in others and our need for privacy for ourselves. The question is: are people dishonest in desiring to know about others what they themselves seek to conceal?