A Social Networking Nightmare

Social Media. We all seem to have access in today's society to all sorts of social media, be in our ten Facebook accounts, or through Twitter and MySpace, to interact with people we never would have dreamed of interacting with before, or making connections we never thought possible. We are keeping in touch with friends that we only ever see twice a year, and we get to thank Aunt Judy for our birthday card without having to send a letter back via snail mail.



Next year though, could you PLEASE use the postal service, instead of a pigeon?

 But with any great advancement, it has its drawbacks. With the ability to now connect with so many people easily, to hear the smallest of thoughts on there boring and mundane lives makes you wonder what have we really achieved? I can now honestly say that I know what my best friend had for dinner. That guy that I've never actually met who lives in America is watching something called Shark Week. I'm being spammed with hundreds of silly pictures which are supposed to be motivational but amount to nothing more than 'Cuddling is great' or some other useless piece of information that I really don't think is really important to me right now.

The ability to over share is perhaps a danger in itself. How easy is it to share on Facebook that you're going to take a sick day because you'd rather walk around the house in the nude and paint artistic depictions of religious events? Really easy. How easy is it to forget that your boss can read every status that you make? Really easy. How much time would it take to piece together that maybe the email you sent in to your Boss saying that you came down with a rare case of the Bubonic Plague and need the rest of the week off, may actually be a lie? About two point three seconds.

I'll teach you for not getting an invite...

So what do we do? Well, there isn't a lot you can do. Social media is here to stay in a lot of ways. Though in a few years time we may move on from Facebook to some other ambitious new social media site, social media itself is ingrained in our society. Even if they haven't used it, everyone knows what Facebook is. The only thing we can do is censor ourselves. Deleting anything from a social media site is like trying to rip your arm off with a toothbrush. Practically impossible. Once you upload that status, consider it up there for good. Want to upload that picture of yourself scantily clad in a pose that would make any parent want to rip their eyes out? Sure thing, make sure that you realize that when it comes to your next job interview, that particular photo may come back to haunt you.

Employers have taken more and more lately, into checking people's Facebook and social media accounts to look at their digital footprint. Is there anything on your social media accounts that you wouldn't like a potential employer to see? I know that mine is riddled with them. Think about THAT next time you think about writing a status updated calling your current employer the worst person that ever existed.