Like for a TBH
Hey lil’ Nick. If my timing is correct you’re probably signing up for your first Facebook account right about now. You may think that you’re ready to post pictures of your Elementary school and share statuses that your friends will dig up and re-post in the not-so-near future but you’re about to enter a potentially dangerous game even if you don’t realize it. Your motivation to sign-up is probably because you’re jealous of all your friends who are talking about how fun it is to message each other (on something that isn’t MSN) and post on friends’ walls (NOT TIMELINE), or maybe you really want to know which Twilight character your friends think you are. Just realize that there IS a very valid reason that Facebook’s minimum age is 13. Maybe you should wait…. You know what. It’s chill. Lie about your age. Let’s click that sign-up button and delve into the newly born digital world that is social media.
Lesson #1: if you POST it, it’s STAYING.
When you sign up for your Facebook account, don’t, I repeat, DON’T put your home address in your information and make it public (yes I did that). I don’t think you realize how many people could potentially see that. You may be naive and extremely trusting right now but as soon as you move into the vast world of social media, your trust needs to be cut down because realistically, you do not know 99.999% of the people on Facebook and they could potentially take any piece of personal information you post and use it in a negative fashion. I think this filter is a good practice when signing up and further posting on any social media platform. When you start using Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. you should continue to realize that even though something you posted may seem like it’s deleted or private, any posted data will remain somewhere deep in the company’s servers / interwebs whether you like it or not. Now, I’m not trying to scare you. Well, maybe a little. The main reason I’m writing this is because I want you to have fun (and I know you will with all those 50 question note things). Just please use this information and be safe.
Lesson #2: Some people use Social Media as a method to insult.
People are going to rip on you and your friends. It’ll make some of them cry. It goes hand in hand with Facebook and Twitter. Don’t take it too hard, a lot of people think it’s much easier to say hurtful things online than in real life because they don’t have to see the other person while directing it to them. That being said, it doesn’t necessarily change what they said just because they found it easier to write it up in a post or a message. Don’t be afraid to call people out for what they say in real life. If they find it easy enough to write out something hurtful, maybe they can explain and apologize for it in real life. I doubt it they’ll be able to explain it and I bet they’ll jump to apologize after a real interaction.
Lesson #3: Go explore and have a good time
This is what I want you to take away most from this. Go have fun. Social media is a vast, fascinating place where you can meet people and reconnect with old friends. As you grow up on Facebook you will develop these lessons and put them into practice when entering and further interacting in other social media platforms. You will find so many cool, interesting people, places, events, groups, etc. on these social media platforms, but be weary, when people post “lms for a tbh” MOST of the time someone else posted it for them and they won’t respond :(
