Like most people in my generation, I could argue for hours about how social media hasn't taken over my life, and I use it safely and responsibly. However, that would be a huge lie. Social media and my presence online has taken over how I perceive myself and others in a drastic way, and I don't think it will ever stop.
I've been heavily involved with social media since I was only 9 years old. Having older sisters, I was constantly jealous of their ability to post, share photos, and talk to their friends on various social media sites. Because of my jealousy and constant nagging, I was able to create my own pages at a very young age. Now, over half of my life is shared online for anyone to view or see. With almost 10 years of posting and sharing with the public, I'm sure there is way too much information available for anyone to see, and I'm just now getting this under control, after a huge wakeup call of my internet safety.
I'm not afraid to admit I haven't exactly been careful online. Obviously I'm not posting my address or social security number, but little things you mention throughout your life can lead people to figure out whatever they want if they do enough digging. Unfortunately, my years of not being careful caught up to me just a few weeks ago, and I was a victim of cyber crime. My favorite social media site to use is Tik Tok, and over the years, I have collected over 50,000 followers on my account. Saying I share everything on this account is almost an understatement. I think of my followers as my friends, which is often controversial, and often forget there are other people outside of my followers who may take advantage of this. I'm often very honest and vulnerable to my followers, making me an incredibly easy target and person to manipulate. I received a text one night from a number I didn't recognize, claiming to be a fan of my Tik Tok account. I was confused, and asked who the number belonged to, assuming it was an old friend. However, the man responded with “the guy who took your account.” When further searching, he has discovered my password for all my social media accounts, including my bank account. From my social media he was able to get my phone number and email, and signed me up for several internet sites. Since the incident my phone is constantly receiving calls and texts and my email is almost entirely spam. When stupidly asking why this happened and asking for my account back, he claimed hed only return it in exchange for some favors. These favors included requests for explicit images, and other disgusting things. I felt helpless and afraid. This stranger had access to all my accounts and the ability to share anything he wished on my page. After a while of trying to get in contact with Tik Tok’s helpline, the hacker became bored and simply gave me the new password and verification code, and I was back in. Although, the torments are not over, and I constantly live in fear of my internet safety. I'm still confused on how he discovered my passcode the first time, what can I do to prevent this from happening again?
Upon taking a closer look at my social media, I had realized just how stupid I had become. On facebook, which I know little to nothing about, my phone number and email were public for everyone to see. It also publicly displayed my approximate location which I never set up. I was terrified! As far as how he figured out my password, I'm not sure. However, my facebook was linked to my origin account, which is a gaming platform I use to play the sims. Although I may not use any of the multiplayer functions, my username is still public. Since I created this account over 7 years ago, I had completely forgotten my username. Turns out, my username was also the password I used for… everything. With this fear of how much I share, I was able to go back into my accounts and further learn about hiding my personal information. However, I still live in worry of what I may have missed.
The loss of my followings and online safety was devastating to me, and it was a huge wakeup call of how much social media has taken over my life. To me, losing access to my accounts felt like the end of the world. This caused me to think more about why this account was so important to me, and how I was using my social media followers to determine my own personal self worth. Although social media is new to our world, it manifests into how we perceive ourselves and others. In the past we determined who was most important by how many friends we had, or how many people attended our parties, but now things have progressed to a much larger scale. Not to get too personal, but growing up I really struggled with fitting in. I was never invited to parties, and was bullied and excluded from everything. When I first started posting youtube videos in 2014, I was immediately made fun of. I remember always feeling so discouraged, but continued to post and create videos in hope of obtaining a following. So, now that I finally had it, I felt like I needed to upkeep it. It was all I had to show for all those years. However, when taking a step back from my social media after getting hacked, I realized nothing about my life was affected. Although I loved the constant validation and approval from my followers, I learned what it was like not to have it anymore. It was incredibly refreshing and gave me a new perspective. Although the moment I receive my account back I'm sure I will jump right back in and forget what It was like before, but I hope I'm able to keep a few things in mind as I continue forward.
From now on I vow to take my internet safety much more seriously. I have since changed all of my passwords, and am in the process of getting a new email to use for important things, to avoid all the spam. I will now be more cautious of how much I share, and assure that I am not anyones go-to target anymore. I'll also keep in mind how crushing it was to lose everything at first, but remember how the world kept spinning. I hope to use this new appreciation to ease any social media anxiety I have in the future.
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