Past Blogs

Social Disclosure

The world today is more of an open book than ever before. Years ago a message could take weeks before it would go across the United States. Months or even years before it would go around the world to all of the intended parties. A strong example from a few hundred years ago was the Thirty Years War. A peace treaty was signed in 1648 but fighting went on in some areas for a long time till everyone was fully aware of a peace treaty. That of course is a long time ago and technology has improved substantially especially in travel and communication technologies. In contrast, communications today can span the globe within seconds. A large piece of information can be sent out from New York to Tokyo with confirmation of receipt much faster than it can be spoken verbally. A text message for example only takes a fraction of a second to reach the other side of the world as long as communication equipment is operating as intended. Emails are the same way with an email sent arriving to the recipient's inbox within moments. In fact in most cases today there is no margin for error either by the end user. If you send a communication by accident there really isn't much time to recall that message before the recipient has already had an opportunity to see that message. That is one reason why some communication services have completely gotten rid of the recall ability as in most cases it's no longer valid and near impossible to execute a total recall of that message. This is even a larger dilemma on social media where a message sent can be seen by millions before the original poster can take it down. Once that information is taken down though, is it really gone? Well the honest answer is most of the time no. Most of the time once information is posted to the internet the information is always out there somewhere on a server. It might just get harder to find but the information is still there. Even when the option to delete the information may appear to be present a great deal of times that information is still on the server. We could probably reword those delete options to a hide option and be more accurate because most of the time when you delete information on a server the information is only hidden as it was moved to a different folder so even the poster no longer sees it. With that tangible fact out there we have to ask how much information we want to post on the internet in the first place?

Information

With every post of information we are putting a little bit of information out there about us. It might be simple information like saying we got a burger for dinner tonight but it is still information about us. Even when our profiles are set up as private the information is still there. We have again just made that information harder to find. The more we post the more of our personal information is available for someone to see. That can be acceptable when it's information that doesn't hurt anyone or ourselves if others know that information. That leads to a very important question however, how do we identify if information is harmful? Sometimes the simplest information can seem harmless for us to find out later that the information actually had some more significant value. Well just a few basics to consider on whether a piece of information has any significant value are below.

Information that can be used to steal your identity is a big one. Of course it being a big one isn't always going to be easy to identify. Sometimes even small bits of information can be a nugget of gold for a person that wants to steal your information especially in cases where it's at least remotely related to those pesky security questions so many bank and other accounts tend to use as an example. Each little nugget may be just one step towards stealing a person's identity and oftentimes that information is right there for anyone to grab on social media. Also keep in mind that your personal information may be useful to stealing others information as well such as your children. I can't even remember how many banks like to ask about a mothers maiden name as if that information isn’t pretty easy to obtain on social media these days.

Though this is a bit the opposite to the purpose of this article, it's important to consider that disinformation is an item that also can be harmful. If we post information on social media that is less than accurate especially about others it can cause harm to whomever that information is about. Sure there is a thing called freedom of speech but we have to remember that freedom of speech actually doesn't cover all levels of speech. Lies, legally known as slander, can actually be labeled as a crime under certain circumstances. Many civil suites have revolved around just that, slander.

Medical information whether about yourself or others can be something that may be harmful. Perhaps it shouldn't be harmful but there has always been harmful effects from private medical information being leaked out which is why HIPAA laws have been created.

While that is a very short and not a full list of types of information that can have some value, it's important to remember that just about every piece of information can have enough value to cause harm or embarrassment in the future. It just depends on how you or others may use or feel about that information a few years down the road. When you look at social media profiles it seems like a lot of posters feel that their social media account has a strong need to know. Sometimes it seems like they are posting their every waking moment. Sometimes that may be ok but it can pose challenges in the future. Identity theft, stalkers, and so on can use that Social Media account to make their lives a lot easier as they commit these crimes against unsuspecting users. It's absolutely critical to remember that personal information often is very private. It's actually a part of our core identity. None of us were designed to be entirely an open book. We actually are a bit of a balance. It's ok for someone to know a lot about us but we were never meant to have our entire lives published for all to see. To be honest there are people I have never met a day in my life but due to their social media presence, the dozens or more of posts a day, I am pretty sure I could create a time line for their life.

That being said, it's not a good idea to have your entire life story reflected in an online social media profile. As an example to a group who have had some lessons learned, it's just one of the many reasons why public figures typically have more than one identity. They have the person you see on TV, hear on the radio, or see online and then they have the identity that represents their true self. Sometimes those identities actually have two completely different names. The identity they present to their family, friends, and sometimes even to some of their colleagues will go by one name while their “fan base” or “followers” may actually know them by a completely different name. To some it may be considered a lie or inappropriate for anyone to have a private identity but in actuality it's very important. It's important to remember that we're not talking about a person who lives a double life with two families living on two sides of the city, county, state, or even country. That would not be a good thing. Now what we're talking about is our private thoughts, feelings, finances, and time where we can decompress. Many of those subjects are things we don't want others to know as they are a part of our private life and identity. It's not much different from when I go camping. I have to take a moment to decompress and get away from the crazy technological life I live. They have to get away from a life where everyone knows what they are doing and when they are doing it. By all means if you're comfortable with that information being known publicly that is your choice but you have to remember if it's something that has the potential to cause you harm if others know about that information. We also have to consider whether or not we will also always be ok with everyone knowing everything about us. Also remember that you don't have to be embarrassed by the information for it to cause you harm especially if someone can pretend to be you financially or otherwise because they had that level of information or if they can track you down when you otherwise would have preferred that person to not be able to find you.

Walter Kiser - 1/1/2025

Page updated

Report abuse