It won’t be lost to equate social media to an opium with both the power to make and mar, a technology that connects us and at the same time seeks to control us. This is a technology platform, if not intentionally optimised, can lead to addiction.
The internet is exploding. And more people – from all backgrounds – are attracted online to the need to post about everything happening in our lives on social media from the food we eat, the shape of house we live in, career mileages, material possessions, relationships, thoughts, to the emotions is amusing considering the buzzes, likes, comments and retweets it will generate.
This rush that comes with sharing parts of our lives is synonymous with injecting a harmful substance into one’s blood stream.
For all the good that comes with using social media, it will be ignorant to turn a blind eye to the ills that comes with it. As such the onus lies on us to steer the wheel of how much of our life gets out there.
Explained below are pertinent reasons you should keep your private life off social media.
1. PERSONAL SECURITY
In 2015 or the year before, a family went on vacation to the US from their Island home in Lagos. One of the family members posted their itinerary as they moved from one spot to to other. It was an easy guess. The images showed the entire family had deserted the house for the Summer.
The same day they left, a gang of robbers got the drift, burgled their mansion from the rooftop and whisked away valuables as seen in the CCTV.
You must be wary of the Devil-may-care attitude. Social media is full of people from all walks of life and you can never know who is watching or reading your content, or someone with negative intentions towards you.
Publishing every detail of your life is unnecessary information that puts you and your loved ones at risk.
Take away the likes and clicks, the updates and retweets. When your information is readily available to the public your life will be intruded by stalkers and pokers. You become susceptible to all forms of attacks physically and virtually, courtesy your making.
The desire to post is exciting but always back pedal and ask yourself how much is too much? Is this necessary or unnecessary?
All in all, your safety is paramount. So anything that’ll put you at risk should be avoided. The fewer people know about you, the safer you’ll be.
2. YOU PUT PEOPLE IN YOUR BUSINESS
If you don’t want people in your business, do well to not make it their business. Control posts about your private life in their faces. You don’t give a dog a bone and expect it not to indulge.
Sharing all your life details on social media makes you the movie and others your audience. You inadvertently give everyone a front-row to your show whilst you become subject to their opinions – mean or nice.
No one should be blamed blame if they demand to know more information about your life. You are the one shoving your business down their throat in the first place.
If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Life is a two edged sword. For every action, there is an equal and an opposite reaction. I understand the crave about social media but some things are called private for a reason. A private life is a happy life.
3. JOB SECURITY
Did you know that employers look up potential candidates’ social media profiles to determine the kind of person they are? A number of employers admit to not hiring someone based on details they found on their profiles.
Why do you think that in brand and social media lectures, the first thing the speaker prescribes to you is to pull down pictures and posts that don’t speak well of your image?
For a second, imagine applying for a job and your potential employees decide to look up your social media space. Do you think you’ll get the job?
Like it or not you are an ambassador representing a brand and employers want people that’ll reflect them positively.
There is more to life than a “Gosh, you’re drop-dead gorgeous”, and “You got my tongue wagging” response. Be intentional about your activities online because it just might be the holy grail to that dream job.
4. MENTAL HEALTH
For someone that’s always putting his or her life out there, you’ll observe that it gets to a threshold where it feels like you’re competing against the world. Before you realise it, unrealistic expectations trickle in. This urge of wanting to show more than you really are kicks in. That’s not a good place to be.
Things like this mess with you mentally. Before you bat an eyelid, there’s anxiety and depression all because you are trying to measure up.
Know that no matter how good you are there is always someone who is better and more competent, which is okay. We all have different paths to tread.
With this reality give yourself a break. Unplug. Social media and real life are two different realities.