Compromising Personal Safety on Social Media

Abstract

The debate over the technological ineffectiveness of social media platforms regarding personal safety is, in fact, relevant and useful. However, more often than not, it becomes engulfed in arguments criticizing social media as a whole. While there are many things that can be criticized about social media and different aspects of personal safety on them, certain mechanisms to protect users' safety do exist. But these mechanisms tend to be ignored by the users themselves. With that in mind, it's important to look at the other side of the coin, which is the choices that people tend to make when using social media. For instance, nearly every social media platform has mechanisms to turn a profile from public to private. However, a vast number of individuals tend to leave their profile on public so as to be able to gather more followers, likes, shares, etc. Simultaneously, they are entirely unaware of the potential or real danger they are putting themselves in. Alternatively, they are entirely aware of the said danger but choose to take that risk.