Are you who you say you are?

For the kids that fall into the generation X category or Millennial's, social media is a big part of life. To post or not to post something can be a decision that can cause enormous damage, enormous success and everywhere in between. The responsibility of this power is within the user. As an explorer of not only social media but, the internet as a whole, it is important to be educated in all the positive and negative aspects. A big down side to social media is the use of catfishing. When one googles this term the definnition is, "USinformal

lure (someone) into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona.

People put trust into someone they have never even met, and this can lead to even more problems than a broken heart. Once a bond is made, personal information is shared like accounts, residency etc. Sitting behind a computer screen seems to make most feel invincible. To take risks they would never dream of in person because, why not? If things go wrong one can just hit the unfollow, block or unfriend button and poof. They are gone forever. There is the risk of also meeting this mystery person in the flesh. A teachers daughter decided to meet a boy she had been speaking with for the past few weeks at the Galleria mall. That's smart right? In a public place and her friends sat only tables away to watch and see what happens. Little did the girl know her mother also followed and watched from a distance just to be sure. As she sat waiting, a man about fifty years old sat down and grabbed her hand. To the side he was holding a knife and said do not say a word. The girl was horrified because, "they had so much in common and he knew how to make her feel good". His profile said he was sixteen and they had been speaking, again, for weeks prior to this meeting and if it wasn't for her mother and friends being there, another girl would have went missing. So many people still have the belief, " Ya it happens sometimes, but it won't happen to me I'm too smart for that".Social media is evolving every day to be fair. Making accounts are becoming trickier for people like this man and so that is a positive. As a whole, social media isn't all bad. There have been countless positive actions only accomplished by social media/ the internet. There are even ways to check if someones account isn't real or is a predator which of course is great, but sad that there is always a chance of catfishing. Ones identity is in danger every time a spam pops up or one follows people they truly don't know. Social media is a powerful source for connecting, learning and even entertainment. No one wants to feel they are in danger and so social media awareness is important for the safety of all users.