Safe bet

Nishtha Shukla Anand

2018 saw the downward spiral of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. April saw the Facebook CEO testify in front of the Congress in the wake of the social network’s Cambridge Analytica scandal. While his grin during the event showcased the millennial he was, it gave rise to further investigation and stock price dropped lower than ever during the entire year. In November, New York Times also reported that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Zuckerberg hadn’t done enough to prevent political lobbies from campaigning and adhering to regulation.

Clearly, there is a dire need for users of social media to stay safe as they start living more of their lives online. Users need to be vigilant and perceptive of what they see and hear in the digital world. Generally, it is common knowledge that users are fine being online as long as they don’t share their passwords, keep unique and difficult passwords, and limit the information they share. We’ve often ignored these warning signs but it’s time to pay serious heed to aspects important to the fabric of our society. 

This was the worst year for Facebook but they are going to make many changes to maintain privacy of users and to prevent harmful political or business lobbying. That’s just their job. To stay safe and neutral on social media, there is a lot that needs to be considered.

Keep few friends: Each time you receive a friend request, make sure you know the person. Ideally, this person should have at least 3 or more common friends with you. If you have not met this person and you don’t have enough common friends, it might be a good idea to delete that request.

Don’t spread rumors: Social platforms are available easily on mobile phones, which makes it super easy to share pretty much anything that moves you. Find out if the information you have received is genuine? Does it come from a reliable source such as a long-standing newspaper or from a blog that you have never heard of? 

Note emotional triggers: Most content we see on social media affects our emotions, not our brains. It is notable that our mind processes emotions in a strange manner and changes with time. The message might mean something to you in the first minute, and a whole lot different in the next five minutes! As intelligent beings it is important that we respond to emotional triggers on social media in a scientific manner. Understand what the message means to you, to people around you, and to the society at large. Handle social media civilly and you will treat your lives respectfully.

(Anand is a Chandigarh-based tech expert)