Is it always fair to blame others for our mistakes? Since the introduction of Web 2.0, why is social media being held responsible for almost every little thing that goes wrong in our lives? To what extent do our ignorance and negligence play a role in making us targets to many different types of undesirable situations, such as theft and so on?
A brief intro…
Precisely 2 days ago, I came across the following article entitled “Burglars using Facebook, Twitter to find targets“. My first initial reaction, naturally, was: Oh my God! Social media is seriously a threat; its usage disadvantages are way more than the benefits one reaps from using it!
It took me some time to reassess and reevaluate the topic and look at it from a different point of view. Then, a while after, I remembered a line from a previous Thoughtpick article entitled “How Safe Are You? Privacy and Risks in Social Networks”, and I quote: “Think about it this way, what would be the effect of putting a neon sign on your front lawn saying “On vacation till the 25th””!
Is Social Media Guilty as Charged?
Different scenarios, same outcome!
Let’s take the following scenarios:
- Scenario 1: You leave your wallet somewhere, on the table, in a crowded place. You come back and find it missing. (Who’s to blame?)
- Scenario 2: You forget your car keys inside your car for a whole night. The next morning, you come back and oops, your car is gone. (Who’s to blame?)
- Scenario 3: You tell everyone you know on Facebook or Twitter that you’re leaving on vacation and you’re worried about your little kitty that will be staying home alone and you come back to an empty house laced with yellow police tape. (Again, who’s to blame?)
Well, I know what you’re thinking: we can blame it on human beings and how socially unaware or irresponsible they are. Hell, we can also blame it on greed and hunger or even lack of love the thief suffered as a child! But deep inside, we should know better: We are responsible, more than anyone, for what we own, what we say, what we do and the outcomes of each and every one of these!
So, is social media completely innocent?
After a long experience with social media, I will not conquer that social media is innocent because it proved to be guilty on more than one occasion, especially when it came to privacy matters. Yet, it is unfair that fingers are always pointed at Facebook, Twitter and others before sound evaluation and logical assessment of the situations we face through them!
To sum up this argument, and after having read my personal opinion and analysis of the subject at hand, do you think social media is guilty as charged? And if so, would you send social media to a juvenile facility or would you sentence it to a minimum or 5 years in a correctional facility? :) Share your thoughts down below.
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Socially yours: