Try to think of your online world as an extension of your offline friendships. Include friends in your activities. It can feel just as hurtful to be left out of online games or chat as offline ones. Be careful how you word things, as sometimes the written word can be misinterpreted. Consider whether important conversations, like resolving conflicts, might be better done face to face.
People don’t post info about their exact home addresses on purpose. But if you check their posts and comments, it may be not that hard to figure it out. Photos of the view through the window, stories from the nearest store, comments on the public transportation situations — all this info gives people a chance to understand where a certain person lives.
This information is often posted together with our photos. Including the name of the device. Also, we often add the name of the specific place. A person you don’t want to meet might get this information and use it. It’s better to turn off Location Services on your phone. You can use various apps like Exify to remove location data from photos you’ve already taken. © windstrider13 / Reddit My employee asked me if he could take the day off because he wasn’t feeling well. When I was eating lunch, I saw his stories from a picnic out of town. He looked extremely healthy. I had to talk to him about that.
When looking for new subscribers and more likes, we are often too open. We post photos from a morning run in the forest, a shot from our favorite cafe we go to every morning, a tweet from the gym, and so on. This shows us to the world from the best angle, but also reveals a lot of extra information. Even based on the likes we give, researchers can paint a pretty clear picture of what we are, what we believe in, and what our family histories are. But when we share more information places like banks, insurance companies, and future employers can find and use this info. Experts recommend looking through old information and removing it.
There are people online that we have never seen offline. But frequent communication creates the illusion that we know these people. When this person shares something secret with us, we feel that we should either also share something or say nothing. The latter option will probably destroy our communication. Before revealing your personal secrets, give it some thought. If you really want to share something, that’s okay. But if you feel forced just because someone shared something with you, it is better to refrain and say that you don’t discuss stuff like this with anyone.
If your friends don’t mind and they are ready to share the information about themselves with the rest of the world, why not. But you should ask them before you post information about them. Also, be careful with the photos of people you don’t know. The same is true for personal information. Telling everyone online that someone you know got married or became a parent is not a good idea. If they want to do it, they will do it themselves.
Sometimes, personal chats are so funny that we really want to take a screenshot and post them. And these posts usually get lots of likes. But there is a flipside. After several posts like this, your friends won’t be happy to share their secrets with you. Nobody wants to see other people discuss their personal thoughts, problems, and typos.
Even if your boss is not on your friend list, don’t complain or post anything about your job online. You might have a colleague that wants to set you up. Also, don’t publish any photos from your workplace because you might accidentally capture and reveal some confidential information. For example, a password or the name of your latest work project that is supposed to be a secret.
The internet is not the best place to discuss the behavior of your partner. We don’t share some things even with our friends. But even when some people anonymously talk about personal things online, it’s still possible to understand who this is using the details. Sooner or later, all of the problems will be solved. And posting about them online won’t help this. And on top of that, the trust in your relationship will be undermined. When you realize that your partner is ready to make anything about your relationship public, you will no longer feel safe enough to share your secrets with them.
If you are in doubt about whether you should post something online, you can always do the grandmother-child test. If a picture can easily be shown to both a grandmother and a child, this means it can go online. Parties are great. But it’s better to keep your phone in your bag. If you know how to have a good time at a party, it doesn’t mean your boss (or the rest of the world) needs to know that. A friend of mine loved posting photos from our parties. All kinds of stuff — the table, the silly dancing. But when everyone started discussing everything about our parties, I had to ask her to stop. And somehow, she was offended.
We often congratulate our relatives on their important days. It looks cute. But if this person doesn’t have a page online, this is a bit weird. For example, cards and wishes for our children that can’t read these posts at all. They won’t see it but some other people will, and some of them can use this information in sinister ways.
