HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM: Be aware of social media dangers

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By Shania DeShaw, Monticello junior

MONTICELLO - Every day millions of people post where they are or what they are doing on some type of social media site. But do you realize that posting things on social media web pages is very dangerous?

People, including myself, don't usually think about these types of things. When posting about an upcoming vacation you are basically telling people that your house will be unoccupied. There are people out there who have stalkers, and this is a perfect bit of information for them.

Twitter is a social media site that tells people where you are and what you are doing. Some tweets have a location device that shows a map of where you are. You may think you have things protected so strangers cannot see them, but in all honesty they probably can. Putting your phone number on social media sites is a big no-no. Anyone can see this on your profile, especially if you add and accept people you don't know.

Yes everybody does these things every day, and we just don't realize how dangerous it is.

Facebook was created for users to reconnect with people and keep in touch. A lot of people put their home addresses on their information page. If you don't have that secured, anyone can see it. I bet you didn't think about that did you? I know I didn't.

With the technology we have today, it's not hard to find anyone. Simply type in a name to Google and you can pretty much see anything you are looking for.

There is no such thing as privacy anymore.

Just think, some stranger could be looking through your pictures on Facebook right now. So before you sign up for any online social media, make sure you know how to make things secure, to keep your family and yourself safe.