How do you stay safe online?
9:04:00 AMSocial networking has become a part of our lives, either for personal matters or for business purposes. It is a great platform for us to interact with other people from different parts of the world via the internet. It has made it easier for us to communicate with people that we may know personally or with those whom we just met online.
It continuously evolve having different themes that cater the needs, wants or interests of users such as photography, writing, music, and anything or everything under the sun. Recently, even finding your lovers online through free dating sites have been a trend these days as you get the chance to know people that match your personality. You get to meet your special someone who has the same favorite food, books, movies, hobbies, etc and in total, what you have been looking for in a partner.
Through the latter, people actually go further than just online messaging, texting or calling as they often end up meeting these people in person. Others tend to do this for fun or for the opportunity to get into a serious relationship. But unfortunately, it can also be quite scary and unsafe as others see this platform as a way to commit sexual harrasment and assault that does not really go well. There has been incidents shown in the news that involve people that met on social media platforms that eventually got hurt or worse, found dead after meetups that shook everyone worldwide.
A few years ago, there was a media coverage that featured the Me Too Movement which was a campaign to help spread awareness on through tweeting and sharing sexual harrasment experiences with the hashtag #MeToo. It was trending worldwide and it was a great opportunity for those affected to be able to voice out what they truly feel. It started way back 2006 as social activist and community organizer, Tarana Burke began using the phrase to demonstrate widespread prevalance of sexual assault and harrasment, especially in the workplace, but the #MeToo movement boomed last year when Alyssa Milano encouraged every gender to share on social media the sense of the magnitude of the problem.
Thankfully, a lot has changed since then as online dating became safer for users. I am not a pro on this but let me share to you a few tips that might help you in the future:
- Make sure that you really get to know the person you meet online first before going into the next level
- Never ever meet someone alone
- Setup your meeting at a public place
- Go with your guts
- Do not meet someone whom you do not trust or if you ever have even the slightest hunch that he or she is a faker
- Always trust your instincts
- Do not do anything against your will
- It is okay to block them especially if they keep bugging you
It is a fun experience meeting new friends or even that special someone online but always remember to stay safe at all times!
0 comments