In “The perils of over-sharing in social networks” (2014),
David Emm mentions that the internet has become a part of our everyday lives
and in almost everything we do for convenience. With the increasing use of
internet through smartphones and tablets, negative consequences have also
appeared via sharing information on social media. Information shared could be
personal or even company’s information. One example the author mentioned was
about if someone shares about going for a holiday, it could potentially attract
a burglar to break into the house during the duration of travel. Because
oversharing of information may reveal too much about oneself, hence attracting
cybercriminals to commit crimes or internet users to hurt others based on the
information one shared. I agree that oversharing on social media will result in
revealing too much information about oneself to a large extent, but I also
think there are other dangers of oversharing which are even more serious than
what the author mentions.
In an article by Emily Crane (2014) “Bare feet on the back
of your seat, half-naked passengers and urine in the sink: The social media
photo campaign shaming inconsiderate airline passengers”, it shows pictures of
people doing things which may be considered unsightly and unhygienic by most
people. By showing people on the article on a news site read by many internet users
every day, the purpose is to shame the people in the photos. Online shaming by
sharing pictures of what people did may seem entertaining to us, but it may
potentially ruin the shamed person’s life. An article called “Why You Should
Think Twice Before Shaming Anyone on Social Media” by Laura Hudson (2013), she
mentions that shaming has become something the internet can be good at doing.
She adds that shaming could destroy lives and livelihoods, and could be a
“weapon of mass reputation destruction”, with examples such as amplified
bullying and slander. The example Laura shared was that a lady shared on social
media the behaviour of two men she saw and eventually leading to one of the men
losing his job and was verbally assaulted online by internet users.
In the same article by Laura, it is shown that internet
speech by internet users may include racism and sexism. These are usually seen
on social media platforms like tweets from twitter. They could be shamers
online, or they could be shamed by other internet users for their offensive
posts. Sharing too much personal opinions online may be a form of oversharing. Laura
said that “internet speech can be cruder and crueller than our real-life
interactions” as people speak bluntly online as compared to face-to-face
interactions.
It is understood that people who are also using the internet
may make use of the information we shared online to their advantage against us
or others through criminal means. It was also mentioned that what we do on the
internet could potentially ruin others’ or one’s life through cyberbullying or
online shaming. Therefore, we need to be aware of what we share and/or do
online so as not to compromise our own security and to harm others.
Emm, D. (2014, March 21). The perils of over-sharing in
social networks. Huffpost Tech.
Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/david-emm/the-perils-of-over-
sharing-in-social-networks_b_5005276.html
Emily Crane (2014, September 17). Bare feet on the back of
your seat, half-naked passengers and urine in the sink: The social media photo
campaign shaming inconsiderate airline passengers. MailOnline.
Laura Hudson (2013, July 24). Why You Should Think Twice
Before Shaming Anyone on Social Media. WIRED.
Retrived from http://www.wired.com/2013/07/ap_argshaming/
