Dangers of Social Media

     Hundreds of millions of people use social media and new media sites. Most of them go about their day checking their status updates or most recent tweet from one of the many people they follow. Everything seems great, that is until they notice that their bank account is suddenly drained dry. Most of us continue on with our day until something does happen to us, and that is when we finally realize that maybe these social media sites are not as safe as we once believed.

     Social media sites may seem harmless but in reality they are just another place for criminals to target their prey. So many people are clueless to what they may be putting up onto these sites, all the personal information they may be reveling. This is dangerous because a profile can easily be hacked, giving the hacker a lot of information about their target and they can easily fall victim to scams that damage both their computers and bank accounts. Nearly 81 percent of all internet crimes are somehow related to social media sites (Erin). With such a high volume of people using these sites it makes them easy targets.

     Not only is your information at risk from potential hackers but let’s not forgot about your physical well being. Say a potential burglar or rapist gains access to your information, they now have your whereabouts. 78 percent of burglars use social media platforms to find houses that may be empty for the taking. They do this by finding out your name and town that you live in from a social media site and then the internet can easily provide them with your address. With your address at their disposal and your status update about how excited you are to be on vacation at the beach, they know have the window and information they need to pull this heinous act off (Erin).

     What's even scarier is the fact that 33 percent of internet-initiated sex crimes happen through social media. In 50 percent of sex crime cases involving minors, the offender got the information about the victim through their social profiles (Erin). Many underage people post so much information without even realizing the information they put up on the sites can put them in danger.

     All in all there are a lot of dangers involving social media sites. The only sure fire way to avoid all these dangers is but just staying off social media all together. Just like abstinence and sex, we all know it’s the only way to avoids STD’s and child birth 100 percent, but let’s face it, we don’t care. So the next best step to take is to familiarize yourself with the social media sites that you are on. Learn about the security and privacy settings and use them to your advantage to minimize the chances of your information being leaked out. Think before you post, you don’t want to share with the whole world that you are going on vacation or going to be out of town for a couple of days. Lastly if you are a parent, make sure to keep an eye on what your kids may be sharing and posting. It is crucial that social media users of all ages protect themselves from the harm and danger that may be lurking out there (Erin).

Works Cited:

Erin, Adrienne. "Reality check: your social media use maybe putting you in danger." AL.com. N.p., 24 Mar. 2014. Web. . <http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2014/03/reality_check_your_social_medi.html>.