The Importance of Staying Safe on Social Media

A famous figure once stated, “Social media is not a subset of the internet. Social media is the internet.” In other words, over time, social media has taken over the internet. After realizing that, we also realized that social media is not as safe as we think it may be.

Brett Anderson is a man who if you read about his story, it will break your heart. Anderson has a teenage daughter that went missing earlier in August of 2013, which sparked a massive criminal manhunt. On top of that, his wife is dead. Murdered. His 8 year old son and family dog, dead. Murdered. His best friend, James Lee DiMaggio, is dead, too. However, he was shot down and killed by police after they finally found him in that extensive search all over the South Western US. Anderson’s best friend was the murderer and the abductor of his family. Can you imagine how horrible that felt for him? Asking himself, how did he allow this sociopath, who police said tortured his wife and son before he killed them, get so close to his family? How did he not know that his friend of almost 20 years had developed unhealthy, romantic feelings towards his daughter? What’s even worse is that the teen even discussed these feelings over social media and Anderson didn’t know. Maybe he could have done something to stop it. Anderson’s daughter is home and safe now, but the rest of their family is gone. Something that could have been stopped if Anderson, or anyone who saw these unusual things on social media, would have seen it and reported something. The overall moral of this story is to always be vigilant about who you bring around your children and watch what goes on in their social media accounts. You never know what danger is lurking on the internet. Another example you can use is the television show called “Catfish”. It is a MTV television show that has been going on quite a while now and people still don’t seem to learn their lesson.

The people shown on the sow are internet trolls who target you on a daily basis. A little more about the show, Catfish. Most people don’t know who they are really talking to on this show and they want it to be someone it is not. It is basically like fake people in human form. That is a big struggle for adults and young adults these days. We do not know what is hiding behind these random social media accounts. We don’t know the dangers and tolls of the internet and sometimes, we might not be as lucky and let off easily like the people in Catfish. It is more often now that you hear about a little girl or boy getting kidnapped or being treated wrong by a predator hiding behind a social media account. These people are so sneaky and quiet that you don’t and won’t know what’s happening until something bad is happening to you. Nobody really pays attention or listens to the little kids and that is how most of these people get away with what they are doing.

So, going back to the show, it is a dangerous series that shows someone pretending to be someone they’re not through Facebook or any other social media accounts. This whole example reveals the danger of the internet and online dating. Just remember, be careful who you friend on the internet, you never know who might be watching and waiting just for you.

In conclusion, social media is a very active place for most people, but it is also something that is very dangerous. If you are not careful, you never know what could happen from the internet these days. Through the internet, all danger is revealed. We must learn and pay attention to the signs of internet dangers to prevent anything happening to ourselves and to the lives of others.