Giving Out TMI

By MAD21

I stumbled across a great article on the website BeingGirl written by Anastasia Goodstein, called "Identity Theft: Another Reason You Shouldn't Share TMI Online." For those reading this, TMI is TOO MUCH INFORMATION. But then, if you didn't know that, maybe you shouldn't be reading this because you don't text, Facebook, MySpace, etc. anyway  :o)

I know, I know. You've heard it all before. You hear it from your parents, your friend's parents, your teachers, and probably every other adult in your life."Don't give out too much information about yourself in the digital world, be it texting, or any of the social online networks..." But you know? You really need to listen. Because I don't think most of you do.

There are tons of people and places telling you all kinds of information about why you should not post too much information about you or your friends. Everyone is telling all the reasons not to share, even if you think only your friends are seeing it (and putting all your settings to 'private' doesn't always work). But having many teens in our family, I can say with certainty, I still don't think most of you are listening. Just go to YouTube. Go and see how many videos of teens dancing around and talking you can find in five minutes. It would shock you. If you were a predator, how long would it take you to find out enough information about one of them to figure out how to find them in person.

You think you are infallible, you think it can't happen to you? So did these people:

"Girl, 12, abducted by 'internet stalker' on family holiday in France."

"Craigslist Killing: Rare But Not Unique."

"Facebook 'friends' charged in Apex teens death."

"Michigan Teen raped by Facebook 'Friend.'"

The image below came from a report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project from three year old data, showing the vulnerability of teens on the Internet because they are so open about their personal information. The original report can be found this PDF file.

Before you let people take your digital picture or post ANY info about you, say to yourself... "Once this is posted online or sent out on a cell phone--it is FOREVER and you have zero control over who can see it." Promise me.