Dangers of Oversharing on Social Media and Islamic Ways to Overcome It

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Dangers of Oversharing on Social Media and Islamic Ways to Overcome It

The world is getting more advanced and more modern. Progress is unstoppable. With these advances, science and technology are increasingly advanced and developed even more modern. With the existence of technology, it has brought many changes and convenience in living life. With the gadget, we can bring those who are far away and make friendship ropes through social media. Only by following and saving the phone number can you know what users are doing through their stories.

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In this modern era, many people are vying to increase the number of likes, followers, and comments on each post in order to get recognition from others. In fact, because social media is so fun, not a few of them are aware or not aware of sharing information that is personal or disgraceful. Sharing things on social media may be a common thing that is often considered normal for some people. However, if excessive or ‘oversharing’, the risk can trigger crime.

Read also : Islamic Concept of Social 

Oversharing is an actor who shares detailed information about his personal life on social media excessively. that information can be in the form of photos, videos, posts, or personal information related to daily activities. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines oversharing as sharing or revealing too much information. This term is used for someone who, consciously or not, has given too much information.

A professor from DePaul University Chicago, Paul Booth, explained that interactions made through social media are a form of weak bond, because we do not face to face or face to face with the other person. He said oversharing behavior could be caused by feelings of Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) or fear of missing a trend, moment, or the like.

 For example, when you see a photo of a friend’s dinner that looks very luxurious and fun, you will also be tempted to share your personal photos in order to get recognition and sympathy from others. But when you get the number of likes and comments not as you expected, you will feel sad, disappointed, stressed, and think that you are not liked by your friends or followers on social media. That’s why oversharing is often associated with mental health, such as depression.

Oversharing usually occurs because someone feels lonely, so they need attention from social media. The perpetrators of oversharing must be careful if they want to share information on social media because digital traces are difficult to erase. Oversharing can also be a boomerang for the perpetrators. The following are the dangers of oversharing on social media that you should know:

Inviting evil intentions from others.

Some people may think that personal information that is shared on social media such as posting photos of children and family, sharing location, information on home and work addresses, car plates, etc. is normal. But in the hands of hackers, it can be misused to commit fraud, theft, cyber crime, and so on.

Damage reputation.

If you want to have a good career or education, then you have to be smart in sorting out the information that is worth sharing on your social media.

Reduced productivity.

According to a study, using social media can reduce a person’s productivity. If you have become addicted, then someone will spend more time interacting on social media than in real life.

Bring up negative comments or responses.

We can’t control someone to make positive comments like what we expect. People on social media easily accept hoaxes and even body shaming. We can limit ourselves by controlling ourselves not to post things that are private.

Password cracking.

Given the new feature on Instagram, ‘add yours’, sometimes it becomes a loophole for someone to break a password. For example, the ‘add yours’ feature contains a date of birth. Usually, people put a password in the form of a date of birth or other easy-to-guess name. Therefore, you should avoid providing personal information on social media.

Then, how does Islam overcome this oversharing on social media? We as humans are not free from mistakes. But remember to immediately repent when you make a mistake. Sometimes when using social media, we accidentally tell our mistakes in stories or posts. Whether you’re joking, just venting, or just for fun. In Islam itself, forbids us to open or tell our own disgrace after Allah SWT closed it.

It is narrated that there was a man who came to the Messenger of Allah and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I once treated a woman at the end of Medina and I did not just touch her (fornicate), so I came to you. Give me the punishment you want.” Then Umar RA said, “If you cover your disgrace, Allah Almighty has covered it.” And the Messenger of Allah was silent and did not answer. Then the man stood up and left.

Well, with the explanation above, we know that revealing one’s own disgrace according to Islam is haram. So it is better to keep the disgrace tightly and not to tell anyone. Likewise with oversharing. Allah has closed our disgrace but we even tell our own disgrace in the Whatsapp story. Wallahu a’lam.

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