Accepted

Most people have done it one time or another. Whether it was by mistake or you knew you did it. You clicked the accept button without even checking on who it is, who are mutual friends to them. But, that’s dangerous. Very dangerous. If you don’t know who you just accepted as a friend, which could have been one of the biggest mistakes that will ever happen to you. A lot of people ask why? They say, “It’s just one person I don’t know. What’s the harm in that?” You don’t know who that person is. You could have just accepted a serial killer’s friend request! You never know who they are. They might be who they say they are, and sometimes not. Some people on Facebook can be very dangerous, so don’t friend people you don’t know.

            First of all, you don’t know who that person is, or what they do for a living. They could be a nicer person, not wanting to do any harm but to rather make a new friend. But, then there are the people who are never who they say they are. He might say he’s 16 year old boy that goes to your school, but in all actuality, he is a 27 year old man trying to get you to spill something. They might even become facebook stalkers. They look at your page looking for any kind of information they can find about you. You don’t know where they are either. They might be 20 miles away or 20 seconds away. Sometimes they might not just be stalking you on facebook. They might be following you when you go out with friends, or when you go grocery shopping with your mom. You never know where they might be.

A woman came to speak in my class about the dangers of the internet. She told a story about her friend’s son who was a teenager, and met other ‘boys’ on the internet who had the same interests and hobbies as him. They decided that they wanted to meet in person, so they agreed to meet at a park and shoot some hoops together. When the son got there, ready to play, and was ambushed by a group of older men, who kidnapped him and took him to a warehouse. Luckily, he was found by police. But this shows that not everyone on the internet is who they say they are.

            A rule most people follow is never put anything on the internet you don’t want a stranger to know, just for safety reasons. But, if you do put something out there, you may never be able to get it back. Yes, you can try and take it off the internet, but it can never be erased from people’s minds that have already read or seen it. Friends might have reposted what you posted, and so it starts a chain. Sooner or later, some 25 year old man is going to find it, and be intrigued by you. That’s how stalking begins. Or maybe even deadly ideas that people get in their heads like kidnapping. Once this does happen, occasionally they try to find everything out about you, like emails, phone numbers, and your home address. Sometimes they succeed. But, then there are the people that try to use you to get to one of your friends. The stranger might have been snooping around your face book page, trying to find anything out about you, when he sees one of your friends pictures on the left side. He notices how pretty she looks, and decides to try and find things out about her. In order for this NOT to happen, people need to make sure that no one but friends can access their page or personal information.

            If you do ever find out who this person is, or what they plan to do, just delete them as a friend.  The faster the better. But, if you don’t know, just be cautious. Even if you think there is just one slight problem with them, hit the delete button. Just do it for your own safety. Because if you don’t, you never know who might show up at your door if they get a hold of the wrong information.