Editorial: Identifying red flags when interacting on social media

With the explosion of social media continuing to rise every day, more and more often people are looking for a way to capture the attention of others. Some doing it simply for attention and some do it for popularity. But believe it or not, some people do it for information that they shouldn’t have.

Back in the days when the Internet started, I fell prey in giving out my password due to a scam. While I was able to regain control of my account and no vital information was stolen, my account was used to send out information and spam emails to other people of unknown addresses. Today, the schemes to obtain that information comes in more ways than one.

When I log onto social media pages, I often come across posts about “let’s play a game” that is followed by the rules. Some of these games are harmless to an extent, such as use the first letter of your name to identify something, such as an article of clothing, book title, etc.

But there was one online game that was really dangerous that I had no reason to partake in. A few months ago, there was a trending game asking, “How well do you know me?” In that game, the person who posted the message would ask others to answer questions to see who really was their “true friend.” However, my common sense kicked in after reading those questions.

Among some of those questions included, “When is my birthday?” or “What is my middle name?” Those inquiries may seem harmless at first until a person who has been around can identify them as security questions that are usually asked for retrieving a password. More of those questions included favorite animal, mother’s maiden name, and so much more. That is when I hit the red flag button on the post. (Yes, I can be a party pooper at times.)

The Internet is a place to enjoy, but we must remember that we are often vulnerable at times. Just like us as people, there is no perfection to prevent us from information being taken. However, we can still take precautions.

We teach safety to our children in schools, but adults can use a refresher course as well. It’s fun to share our achievements and proud moments with others. But we must also remember that if one person can see it, more than likely others can as well.

So, the next time you have doubts about one of those social media applications or there is a fun game that ask too many personal questions for your liking, hit the exit button and remove yourself from the situation. You can take those preventative measures to elude the unnecessary hassle of building yourself back up from the ground up.