How unsafe is Social Media?

Hello again everyone. I wasn't able to be active here for some days because of an asthma attack maybe it was because of the bad weather. When suffering from an asthmatic attack you would surely have a hard time to focus on something that you wanted to do because its hard to breath. Better to just rest and take time to relax. Thankfully I am now okay. By the way my chosen topic for today is about how unsafe social media is. And this is base from a 17 year old and a 12th grader's point of view and that's me. You can add some of your thought at the comment section for some important points that I'll miss with my writings. I do appreciate that so it will add to what I have learned already.

Social media, there are hundreds of social media platforms and apps that you can use to communicate and socialize with people you're close with, people who lives far away from you, or just random people. Most of the popular social media applications people are using these days are Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Telegram, Tumblr, VK, YouTube, Messenger, WeChat, etc. Since our technology improves day by day, most people rely on using gadgets, usually smartphones or laptop. Also, almost everyone has their own social media account,what for? To communicate, ease boredom, pass time, to update oneself what's going on, and several reasons.

Everyone's questions is, is social media safe? The answer would be immediately "No". Not all social media platforms should be trusted, because most of it requires you to agree on terms that you may not approve at all. Not just that, socializing with different people isn't new in social media apps, too. But not everyone is nice, some may befriend you, some may say harsh words to you. As a person who uses social media platforms, I highly recommend everyone to at least not take all of your time with these applications or platforms, aside from it being exhausting, social media is toxic too. Sometimes it triggers past traumas and insecurities of a certain person, it can be you, too. How? Since social media is all about interaction and communication, some things are inevitable, some may find a girl pretty and gets insecure, some may see a post of a millionaire in such an early age and gets jealous, some may see someone who has a lot of followers and gets mad, it just go around. Social media is toxic. Aside from that it isn't safe. How so?

"Gc*sh 20th Anniversary, Click the link to enter and participate in the survey, have a chance to win $100!"

"An accident occured in Angeles City. Two dead on arrival. Click the link for full article."

"****Website has detected virus in your phone! Click this link to get red of it."

Are you familiar with these lines? Have you ever seen and received messages like these? If yes, I highly recommend you not to click it. If not, then this article is just for you. For your awareness, not only you, but your accounts and private information too.

Phishing is not new especially with many social media there is these days. One tap, and all of your information might get stolen. First of, what is phishing? According to Imperva, Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. How does it happen? Of course they have to lure you in their scams. Having your trust is the most important, then after awhile, the phishing occurs. There are different kinds of phishing, it maybe in text messages, emails, links, fake websites, spear phishing, whaling and a lot more. Most common phishing is those links you often see and receive. A lot of people uses that kind of trick in Facebook, because there are millions of its users, you can just be scrolling through your news feed and a certain news caught your eye, curious, you clicked the link given so you could read the full article, what will happen after? Your account might get hacked, it may also start sending messages to your friends with suspicious links that they might open because they thought it is you. The link differs, of course. It may contain an accident that didn't happen at all, an accident that is made up, winning phones, money, and a lot more that will surely catch one's attention.

CLOSING THOUGHTS:

One thing for sure is, use social media wisely and do not just click links or trust people you are not familiar with. Social media platforms are dangerous. If ever you received a suspicious link, do not ever click it especially if it's like this "http" and not like this "https".

Once again thank you very much dear friends for taking time reading. I would appreciate if you can add some important points and factors as to why social media is unsafe mostly on the financial matters like online banking and etc.

• Lead image and all other images are from Unsplash....