Fabrizio Piciarelli
How many selfies do we take each day? How many posts do we publish on Facebook and how many hours do we spend chatting on WhatsApp? The site Connected Generations has listed the 7 most common mistakes we make online.
These are bad digital habits, to which they were given – with great imagination and irony – precise names and surnames. We now present them to you and…let us discover together what defects we recognize the most.
1. Chat Woman
She is the queen of the chat. She likes to spend the whole day chatting, from the moment she wakes up until the evening when she goes to sleep, leaving the phone turned on under her pillow. Like a real lioness of the keyboard, she easily switches from Facebook chat to WhatsApp, from Tinder to Badoo. Not caring about danger, she crosses crosswalks without ever turning up her gaze from the smartphone. She often happens to converse with many people and on several different messenger apps at the same time. But it’s not a problem. For her there are no space limits nor time constraints. This is the digital frontier! But in taking part in this constant chatting, our Chat Woman risks losing herself in a purely virtual life, losing contact with reality, people and true emotions… Familyandmedia advises you to read
How to live happily and calmly without smartphones and tablets: the 5 rules of digital detox.
2. Silver Selfie
“We are the Army of the selfie of those who get tan with the iPhone But we have no more contacts
Only to like another post.”
It is the famous chorus of the “Army of the Selfie”, a recent Italian song of great success. And our Silver Selfie, is just as inspired by this musical smash hit. He is the king of the selfie. He is sure that he understands the true meaning of life: taking pictures of himself with his smartphone and posting them on social media, in a perennial and spasmodic expectation of likes.
Any photo is fine: having just woken up, while eating a sandwich, or leaning against the wall outside his house… The important thing is to post, what counts is to be up there. Dear Silver Selfie, be careful though. Doing this puts you at risk of becoming a caricature of yourself and giving a wrong and superficial image. Familyandmedia recommends you to read Good Digital Purposes: here are the secrets of the 5: 2 diet!
3. The Incredible Url
There’s really nothing to do; he cannot help it. As soon as he sees a link, he cannot resist checking it out. He clicks on anything and everything, accepting what pops up without reading a single line. Maybe he is a little naive, maybe even a little distracted, but our Incredible URL would do well to think a moment before clicking, to avoid scorching disappointments. In fact, on the web there are many viruses, scams and content that could cause damage. Keep an eye out for privacy. Finding ourselves with our personal and sensitive data stolen can happen in just a single second. Dear Incredible Url, Familyandmedia recommends reading The deep web: the dark side of the Internet. A journey beyond the boundaries of the Web.
4. Tagman
As a child I grew up reading Spiderman comics. Now though, it appears that he has been replaced by Tagman. He simply cannot do without it. His desire to tag everyone in every picture and at any given moment is truly uncontrollable. The result? He often annoys his friends, who may be more careful about their own privacy and are not enthusiastic about letting the whole world know where they are and what they are doing. Maybe the Tagman, before tagging someone, should ask the others for permission. It is the first rule of proper digital etiquette. Dear Tagman, we recommend reading Mom, no photos of me on Facebook! A research reveals the use of internet and social media in the family.
5. Visible Girl
She is the sister of Silver Selfie. Vanity seems to be just a family vice! She, too, takes pictures continuously with her smartphone and then sends them via messenger to her friends. “It’s super private. Delete it immediately” she leads on to her friends a bit flirtatiously, but then eventually this selfie goes around the Net and gets loads of views. Dear Visible Girl, a picture sent on WhatsApp or posted on Facebook is forever. Even if you regret it, it’s too late, because it could have been saved and spread on the Internet by someone else. Never take sexy photos. It may not just be seen by the friend or partner you sent it to, but by many others and could destroy your reputation irremediably. Don’t make hasty and naive choices that could ruin your future. Familyandmedia recommends reading Snapchat: new frontier of social networks or trap to escape?
6. Storm
He is always the most informed of the group. He knows everything: appointment or lesson times, addresses of the places to go, the latest lecture notes from class, even secrets of all sorts. The result is then being constantly targeted by messages and requests, with the risk of wasting your precious time answering people and messaging, letting more important things get pushed to the side. Dear Storm, be careful not to ever spread personal information about you and your friends online. You could become victim of cyberbullying or have unpleasant experiences just because you have put your phone number or home address on social networks. After all, you’re a good person and have a big heart. You just have to be careful not to trust so easily and give information to your virtual friends. Even if they look like good people, they could bring you serious trouble. Familyandmedia recommends reading How to prevent our children from falling into the trap of Grooming.
7. The Postman in Black
He is certainly the most spiteful and unfriendly of our characters. He pursues everything and everyone, though his favorite victims are often those who are weaker and defenseless, like immigrants, women, the elderly and the disabled. Social media is his natural environment to let off steam, make fun of others, criticize and offend. He’s a professional screamer, always looking for a post of that will easily get some applause, perhaps to compensate for his enormous insecurity and frustration in real life. For an extra like he would do anything crazy. It is advisable to ignore him and not respond to his virtual provocations. Dear Postman in Black, stop screaming and attacking everyone one social media for a moment and take two minutes to read Haters online: do little bullies grow and evolve?
In conclusion, the web is a wonderful world, which can offer many possibilities and opportunities for study, learning, leisure and work. However, let us not allow our weaknesses and lack of character to become fertile seeds to feed bad habits. Let us try to find the right balance between life… and digital life. We must learn to control ourselves and be polite and respectful on the web. We owe it to ourselves and to others. Happy and healthy surfing to everyone!
Original source:
We thank the site Generations Connected for the images, names and idea of the characters.
