In today’s media saturated, materialistic and consumer-led society, social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are at the forefront of most people’s lives. They consume us into having a desire to check up on new posts daily. How long do you think you could go without checking up on a social media site or without posting on one? For many of us we simply go out for lunch and have a burning desire to post a picture of the really cute café we are in or the amazing Starbucks coffee we’ve just bought. This isn’t to say that social media is appalling and no one person should ever use it again but it’s about knowing the right limits and taking care on what we post. We are probably all aware of the common fears of social media such as cyber-bullying and rumours but what about the other dangers? 

I bet many of you have open Instagram accounts for anyone anywhere in the world to follow or you maybe accept anyone on Facebook who has mutual friends with yourself. Have you ever thought about where these people are from or what these people do – teacher, employer, criminal?

If your Instagram account is open or you accept any friend request on Facebook that means any person, good or bad, can follow you and see pictures of your everyday life, your family, your home, your work. So if you post a provocative photo of yourself, or a photo of your little brother, these people, who ever they are, can see them and save them. It’s as simple as a click of a button to save your photo and they can keep it forever or send it to whomever they please. So what if that photo of your little brother gets passed around and ends up in the hands of someone who is not so nice? Just think of the abysmal consequences.

Why do we feel so much pressure to add anybody that requests to be friends? Because in this current postmodern society, we feel pressure to be socially accepted… to gain as many friends as possible, to post things people like and to post things that will get likes. However, is that really worth risking your safety for? Next time someone adds you on Facebook that you don’t know just think about who the real person behind the profile could be. What if you post a status about your whole family going on holiday?

Without realising it you have just let many people know your house will be empty for the whole week. Free to be burgled by anyone willing to do so… what if that random person you accepted was waiting for this opportunity.

A final rather hidden worry social media brings is the growth in depression and self-doubt. Have you ever used social media to make comparisons between your life and someone else’s, between your pictures and their pictures or between how many likes they get and how many likes you get. (Hello I bet most have! I’m certainly guilty of checking up on what Beyoncé is up to and her latest pictures.) However, this brings with it severe body hatred and unobtainable body images portrayed by these social media sites. I’m sure many of us love to receive likes and desire to get as many as the celebrities and we probably take into account how many likes we will get when deciding to post a picture, resulting in us posting things that may not give a true representation of who we are. With all these people you follow on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, I bet you look at some of them thinking ‘I wish I was as pretty’ and you come away feeling melancholic and body conscious. What you don’t see is how they look when they wake up in a morning (which if they’re anything like me is probably awful).

Let’s remember what you see is not always reality. Just because someone has a big house does not mean their whole life is perfect. We only see what they want us to, they only post things that convey the image they want us to see and that is key to remember!

So be safe and be confident in who you are as a person. You don’t need all those likes to prove you’re just as gorgeous as others. You don’t need all those random followers and friends to be socially accepted. You just need to be you! So next time an unknown person wants to add you on Facebook think of the consequences and click DECLINE.