By Alexandra Gargon (Whetstone Staff Writer)

Alexandra Gargon

We live in a world of technology.

Students write their term papers using texting language. People rarely leave their houses without checking their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Like a lot of social media, Facebook is becoming an unhealthy obsession for many people today.

I am definitely one of these people.

I find it difficult to leave the house without checking my Facebook first. And even when I am not at home, I still use my phone to check Facebook updates and statuses,.

Facebook is starting to take over our lives; many of us no longer believe anything unless it is posted there.

Not only that, but if you want to know anything about a person, all you have to do is look them up on Facebook and see what they have on their profile.

It’s also a site that really makes it easy to ”stalk” people.

It has many applications that allow people to post information about themselves. It has many different profiles that people can “become a fan of,” giving everyone more clues as to who they are.

You don’t even have to remember your friends’ birthdays because Facebook reminds you of when they are.

But, so what?

Yes, Facebook and Twitter are great influences today, and with people of all ages. Technology has become second nature to most. But, why does it matter?

Because some people put themselves in dangerous situations without even knowing it.

Several people have their home address on there, or the name of their dorm building at their school.

They also post when and where they are going on vacation in their statuses.

This is the kind of stuff that predators look for. It is basically an open invitation for house robbers. We supplied them with our address and told them that we will be in vacation for x amount of days.

And, yes, you can set your profile to private. But, it is not hard to find people on Facebook, whether it’s through a friend of a friend who is friends with someone out there.

When you create your Facebook account, most of us don’t read through the Statements of Rights and Responsibilities thoroughly.

Whatever you post on Facebook really isn’t all that private after all.

It used to be stated in Facebook’s Terms of Use, that whenever someone deleted his or her account, all of the rights Facebook claimed to it would expire.

But, now, Facebook has the right to do whatever they want with the content you had on your page, even after you delete your account.

Does this mean that Facebook is secretly a bad place and we should all delete our Facebook accounts in case something bad happens? No.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m just as addicted to Facebook as most others.

It means that we all should truly be aware of the dangers and not just check the “I agree” box when we create an account without going through all of the information in the Terms of Use.

It also means that we should be more careful about the photos that we post, and the contact information that we put in our profiles because no matter how private we think it is. It’s never really private.