Beware the unpleasant aspect of social media

WHEN I use social media, I sometimes wonder how some of the contents could ever be allowed to see the light of day.

When searching for something “normal” like a singer’s newly launched music video, I usually get several “suggested videos” for me. I occasionally find something I want, but most of the suggested videos are totally irrelevant.

Some, in my humble opinion, should be X-rated, as they are not suitable for viewing by children below 12 years of age. Even adults do not really know how to filter the Internet for safe content, what more young children in their innocence.

Take, for example, the “funny” prank videos. Many of these so-called funny videos were done at the expense of the “victim”. If the victims were paid to act, that’s another story.

But most of the videos are of mishaps that occur daily, and they are uploaded to the Internet where they will remain for eternity. It seems anybody these days can upload any video of any nature and still sleep well at night.

Sellers of “health products” are also becoming bolder in the range of illustrations they use to advertise their merchandise.

And with easy access to CCTV or hidden cameras, there is a huge opportunity for Peeping Toms to capture videos of people in embarrassing situations and upload such content to the Internet.

As such, there must be stricter guidelines (or law) on what can be uploaded to the Internet.

It’s also time to remove the “share” button on social media platforms like Facebook. Not all sharing is noble when the original poster’s intention was simply to gain more followers or to embarrass the person featured in the video or photo.

Last but not least, media practitioners should study the contents of social media postings before reporting on them. If they make a report of the posting, they would actually be “viraling” it, and this is basically what the original creator intended.

MR EYE-OPENING , Penang