I remember back in high school when the whole myspace epidemic first started, and at the beginning I was so against it. I kept telling myself I would never be like the rest of the school whose day revolved around getting online and checking to see if they got a new comment or if someone added a new picture. Eventually I gave in and as soon as I had created my profile I was just like the rest of the crazy people who had to check their page every chance they got just for something new to appear.
As most of us did I transferred over from myspace to facebook when I got to college. I hadn’t looked at the information I put on my page since the day I had typed it until this assignment, so it was interesting to look back to what my interests were and what I thought was appropriate to put online for the whole world to see. Surprisingly my answers were similar to the answers I would have had if I were to have just made my facebook. I never added a lot of personal information, just general activities or television shows that I was interested in at the time, nothing too intense. The self presentation that I wanted others to think about me was that I was a fun loving girl, who likes to play basketball and hang out with her friends. I’m up for having a good time.
I have known people who put their full address online and that is just creepy! You do not know who might look at your pictures and think you are attractive and then they will write down your address and try and stalk you! That’s what is dangerous about putting yourself online like that; it’s open for anyone to look at. Along with people stalking you there is another danger of putting your information online. Identity fraud which Wood and Smith talk about in Chapter three, which discussed when people take your personal information and then impersonate you online or in real life. With this information they are able to buy things and charge it to their account, which is a scary thought!
Whenever I get a new friend request and I don’t know who the person is I never accept them, because I don’t want strangers taking a look into my life. I had a friend once who got a friend request from a stranger and she then went on to write him a message asking him “hey I don’t recognize you from your profile picture. Have I met you before. If I know you I will gladly accept you but if I don’t sorry I don’t accept strangers.” The guy then wrote back and explained to her that he was doing an assignment for class and was seeing how many people actually accept “friends” to look at their page of personal information who they don’t even know. He said that surprisingly a lot of people pushed accept without any hesitation and that my friend was one of the only ones who called him out on it. Facebook can be a fun form of communication and there is nothing wrong with having one as long as you are cautious about what is going on around you.
I think your right. I never understood why people feel the need to post information, such as their address or phone number online for everyone to see. I mean, I personally wouldn’t give out my address to most of the people that I am good friends with, let alone put it online for anyone to see. There are too many bad things that could happen, such as identity theft or stalking as you mentioned. I think it is important for people to keep their online lives separate from their real lives, and posting addresses online tends to cross a line between the two.
I was totally the same way with myspace… All the kids in the college group I helped with were on and having this “other life” on it that I felt like I was missing out on! So, I finally succombed and was soon just as hooked as the rest of them. Way to hop on the bandwagon, eh!
I don’t accept anyone I don’t know. Sometime I don’t know them REALLY WELL or its been awile, but there are few exceptions to the rule that allows people to see my facebook or myspace. (I have both, but I like facebook better.) I don’t think people realize the dangers of Identity theft until they’ve experienced it, or know someone who has. Its like we think we are impentratable from bad guys, or it will happen to someone else…and never us. Its that foolishness that gets people in trouble!