I can't take it anymore. I have had it up to here (I'm waving my hand WAY above my head.) and I absolutely MUST say something....
STOP SHARING SHIT ONLINE IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE THE PROPER RESEARCH!
No seriously.... stop it. You are only making yourself look stupid, and propagating fear mongering.
Anything, and I mean ANYTHING can be found online if you look hard enough. That means that if I felt like it, I could find an argument for smoking cigarettes to CURE cancer. That doesn't make it valid or true.
In this day and age, we are far too quick to hit the "share" button. We rarely take the time to figure out if what we are sharing is of any value whatsoever, let alone if it is even true. And don't even get me started on the people who clearly do not understand satire. Nothing you read in The Onion is true, people.
We have to stop. We are creating a world filled with ignorance and fear, and it isn't helping anyone. All this does is encourage trolls and drama starters to write articles intended to spread discontent and stir the shit pot in order to garner attention.
I recently saw a photo show up MULTIPLE times in my Facebook newsfeed about Halloween landing on Friday the 13th for the first time in 666 years or some shit. Now... I don't want to make anyone feel bad or stupid, but COME ON, PEOPLE.... Stop for a second and think it through. When is Halloween? It is the same day every single year. It is on October 31st. That means it could never, ever, EVER land on a Friday the 13th. We know this, yet many, many people shared that photo. Why? Because we are sharing without thinking, that's why. We see some colorful quote or catchy titled article and we feel compelled to share it. But should we? While some things are certainly worth sharing, many others are not. We need to start doing a better job of filtering these things.
Now, I'm not a big proponent of sharing religious, political, or push button topics, but if that is your thing, for the love of everything holy, please make sure you have done the proper research before you share it. You may hate Obama, but that doesn't mean that photo of him stabbing unicorns is real. You get that, right?
And if you want to be the person who shares things like that, at the very least, you should be sure that what you are sharing is genuine and not just some false propaganda created to cause trouble.
So.... from now on, let's all do our due diligence, and start weeding out things of value from general nonsense. Not only will this free up our newsfeeds for more worthwhile things, it will make the world a much happier place, and you won't find yourself sitting at your desk screaming at your computer screen and calling your friends and loved ones colorful names.
Thank you. This has been a public service announcement.
This. SO much YES!
Yesterday, I saw at least 20 posts on Facebook about the new messenger app. People were frothing at the mouth in fear of installing it, because they were afraid of being spied on, and other privacy based issues. Really? I have the new messenger app, and so far, I can honestly say that no men in black suits have stormed my home, no drones have appeared in my shower, and I haven't noticed a single difference in the way my phone works.
Now, to be fair, I don't read all the terms and conditions when I download an app. Maybe somewhere in the fine print, it mentions that the Men in Black will now be listening in on all of my conversations, or randomly activating my camera, but I'm too lazy to read it all. So if that's the case, I hope they like hearing about boobs and rally, and watching me read. Because that's about as exciting as my life gets.
And unless some of you are super spies, or secret terrorists, I somehow doubt the NSA, CIA, FBI, or WNBA gives a hairy rat's ass what you are doing, who you are talking to, how many cat videos you watch, and the GPS coordinates of your favorite Chinese restaurant.
Now don't get me wrong, I like my privacy as much as the next gal. But I also have accepted that we live in a technological age, and unfortunately, that comes with some drawbacks. If you use a computer, cell phone, have cable or Netflix, spend any time on social media, use a credit card, GPS, or any other form of modern life, you WILL be subject to risks. That's a fact. Your information will get out, and sometimes it will end up in the wrong hands. There is no 100% surefire way to avoid it. Unless you feel like moving into a cave, growing your own food, and essentially living off the grid. And while some days, that sounds like the best idea ever, it's not truly realistic. Plus, I like my internet porn and car videos.
So here's the reality...
NO ONE CARES WHAT YOU ARE DOING. I know, shocking, right? While I'm sure YOU think that you are the next James Bond or Batman... in the real world, you are just another average schmo. You aren't a threat to the government, and you aren't even registering on anyone's radar. Contrary to popular belief, the NSA has a lot more concerns on its plate than monitoring what level bridge troll status you've reached in World of Virgincraft.
I mean... how big does your ego have to be to think that YOU, out of the billions of people on the planet, warrant that kind of attention?
And IF, for some reason, you ARE a secret spy, terrorist, or have something to hide... GET THE HELL OFF OF FACEBOOK! I'm pretty sure that's like #1 in the "How to be a bad guy" handbook for cripe's sake.
We need to start being more realistic, and we need to quit giving in to the fear mongering, conspiracy theorists. We need to use our common sense, and not rely on the opinions of others.
Nearly every website you visit, app you download, and business you utilize is collecting some data from you. Whether that information is being used to help better serve you, or to try and sell you something is up for debate. We all say we want more personalized service, yet we cringe when someone asks us for any personal information. We say we want "smarter" phones, yet we freak out if that means agreeing to give up some of our privacy. Well we can't have it all. Social media is free, which means that they NEED to make money somewhere, and that money is in advertising. That means they are going to try and collect any data they can to use on that behalf. Don't like it? Don't use it. It's that simple.
Now.... if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to building my glitter bombs, and plotting my sparkly world takeover.
