Write a list: the 10 most unexpected consequences of being online

Social media - todays communication

Being an active online user is common practice these days. My seventy year old uncle has just learned how to use email and the internet and as a retired accountant is doing private books with excel! Amazing!

Making use of social networks such as Blogging, Tweeting and LinkedIn is now of utmost importance, if you are not active online you don’t exist. What you talk about and who you follow is also important you must be relevant ad interesting otherwise you are just boring and irritating. The saying you are who you surround yourself with rings true for the cyber world as well – always remember that.

For me the 10 most unexpected consequences of being online are:
Spam – I am still amazed and a bit frightened at the amount of Spam I receive in my inbox and the people who comment on tweets, most of them I don’t know and how do these spammers get into your profile?

Hacking – I have at least 3 friends whose profiles have been hacked into, causing a lot of problems and leaving a bad taste in many people’s mouths.

Die Hards – I call them die hards because no matter how many times you ignore their friend requests they keep poking you and sending new requests
Gossipers – People on line who just want to know everyone’s business so they can be the first to spread the news virally and verbally

Intruders/Invaders – People who post pictures of you on a social site that you don’t even know, even pictures of your children? I cannot understand this. Or those who tweet about your good news (is it their good news or yours?)

Being online can also create a lot of relationship problems, emotional postings are never a good idea. I am a social person and love being in touch but my husband is a private person and does not appreciate our lives being all over the internet – compromise plays a huge part of the online space in this case.

The other four unexpected consequences would have to be personal safety, especially for children, addiction to sites or just the internet, education (a good consequence) and information overload.

All the best to moms and dads out there on balancing the internet and trips to the library.

Love
Tanya B