A significant number of people, especially in younger generations, overshare their personal lives and sensitive information with the public for thousands, if not millions, to see, and they wouldn’t even know whether their information would be stored on others’ devices. This terrifying thought of strangers across the globe from the internet having access to your photos that you have probably forgotten about posting has become a rising concern around the digital world.
According to one article’s research, it was said that “84% of people post personal information on social media every week, and 42% do it daily.” This shows how the majority are obsessed with posting their lives on social media, without considering how vulnerable a position they are placing themselves in. 4 in 5 people admit to oversharing personal data online, yet the issue of oversharing information persists as people aren’t fully aware of its consequences and dangers behind it.
The image shown before shows how many people are posting more and more on social media, which raises a question: Are we sharing just too much information?”. Additionally, the graph shows that the number of users has more than doubled over the past decade.
Some consequences of oversharing are loss of privacy, identity theft, and targeted scams & hacking through social engineering.
1, Loss of Privacy, personal information, such as locations, one’s daily routines, and current relationships, can become visible to strangers, and the most important thing here is that since this information is revealed online, it is extremely hard or impossible to fully remove once shared, leading to many regrettable choices.
2. Many unknowingly overly reveal themselves on the internet, making them an easy target for their arch nemesis to hurt you and your image by impersonating you and committing questionable activities on your behalf. Information like your full name, birthday, where you attend, or your address on various locations you like to hang out on can be used to impersonate you, which can lead to fake accounts that disguise as your “hidden account”, and impersonate you with the intention of fooling others into thinking that it is you whom is posting “weird” stuff and saying thing on that account.
3. The probability of one getting hacked or scammed through social engineering, a form of attack where an attacker tricks you psychologically with the information they have gathered about you and your personal life through social media, rises exponentially. Hackers use personal details to guess passwords or to identify security implications. More personalized scams cause more people to fall into them, and learning through data found on one’s social media about what an individual likes to do and is interested in is more than enough to trick most people into giving their trust and falling into a scam.
Despite these risks, the public continues to share personal details online seemingly for attention or to “fit” in. However, being aware and being educated about the real consequences of oversharing on social media is crucial, as being aware and being oblivious to these risks can make a huge difference.
(https://www.redsocial.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-over-posting-on-social-media)
It could feel like it is something to shrug off, thinking that these kinds of things wouldn’t happen to me, however, it is always better to take early actions proactively than take any chances. Many don’t know how to make changes, and it could be a stressful process trying to figure out what to do.
Some solutions or alternative actions, instead of entirely not using social media or putting strict restrictions, are: thinking before posting, thinking about how much “this post is revealing yourself to the public, and asking yourself if you are ever going to regret posting it. Next, the most crucial steps are to avoid sharing personal details; many could overlook this information, but make sure to turn off locations and routine patterns that might reveal too much about yourself. Last but not least, it is advised to check privacy settings and turn on an option to make our account private to you and others you actually trust. These simple habits can bring realistic changes and block simple yet highly effective attacks caused by attackers.
In conclusion, as social media algorithms encourage posting, and other things such as influence between friends create more and more growing social media users and post their lives, it is pivotal for individuals to learn and educate themselves of dangers and actions to take. One last thing to remember is that there is such a thing as a Digital Footprint, the idea and a realistic one, that everything stays online for the long term, so thinking before posting things that could overshare your life is extremely important.
By. Geumchang An
Works Cited
Feeley, Michael. “Too Much Information: 4 in 5 People Are Still Oversharing Personal Data on
Social Media.” New Digital Age, 2 Feb. 2021,
newdigitalage.co/social-media/too-much-information-4-in-5-people-are-still-oversharing-personal-data-on-social-media/.