Friday 16 September 2016

social media. selfies and other not so smart smartphone stuff

So the smartphone ..... what a welcome addition to life.  It is there all the time, ringing, knocking, vibrating, blinking in silence, whistling, tapping, lighting up.  Alerting us that someone is calling us, called us, sms'd us, whatsapp'd us, tweeted us, tagged us on FB and then of course there is the plethera of sms'ing, whatsapping, tweets and FB that we ourselves do.  And then there are the websites, chatlines, chat sites, Tinder, meet a man, meet a chick, online shopping, online bookings etc etc.  Oh and not to forget that other thing - sexting and selfies and other such stuff which can come back and really be an issue .... because remember darlings ..... what you put out there is out there.  For good.  You can delete your message and photos or drop them into any place you wish .... they can be found should it ever be necessary.  Aaaah cyberspace .... what a blessing and a curse. 

I read an interesting article this weekend in the paper ... and then listened to a prank call this morning on 94.7 to such a chat site.  As the producer, Brad, said .... there is this misconception (mostly) (before everyone gets their backs up) that chat sites are there simply to meet people and chat about the weather.  The anonymity often leads to all kinds of games.  Once again darlings, when it is out there, it is out there. And I said often, not always. 

Am I judging no - not in the least - each one of us probably know of at least one person doing this - maybe even you - but I am asking for renewed consideration.  2 years ago someone I am acquainted with sent me a photo.  I could have taken it as them hitting on me, but because I was 100 % sure they were not, it would be laughable, I now sat with a delightfully uhm .... well ... picture - which confirmed a behavior in very clear terms, that was not intended for me. This is not unusual - when you are jumping between messages on Whatsapp you can accidentally get onto the wrong one ... I myself have done it .... not with a photo but with a message.  It can be problematic. 

I waited for an apology.  An explanation.  At least some embarrassment.  The person hopefully knows it is not my style to pass it on, show anyone, identify them to anyone and I have not even told that person.  And it is not my intention to.  In my heart I hope that they did not realise what they had done, because if I ever find out that they did, and simply just, out of arrogance, said nothing, it would be the end of contact we do have.  I sent them messages after that, and them me, till today, so I give them the benefit of the doubt that they did not see what they had done. C'est la vie. Everyone has reasons they do stuff - it is their stuff.  I don't do blackmail.  Some things we take to the grave, not necessarily because they deserve it, but because it is beneath me to do anything else.  I am simply stating it here because it serves a purpose in this blog. 

So people young and old .... it is social media .... and even your private messages never ever belong solely to you .... the cellphone giants can reach anything ... anytime .... should they need to.  Forget about your pin number, fingerprint, hand swiping, code pattern, urine sample locks on your IPads, Computers and phones. 

So be sensible.  Be discerning.  And for goodness sake double check the name before you push send. 

A little bit of Friday wisdom. 

Till soon 
c'est la vie xxx

So how is your week going? Yes I wrote this blog a while ago.  I have tripped going up (yes up, not down the plethora of steps up to our hou...