Oversharing is the theme of this generation.                                             

     From following the labor chronicles of Beyonce’s twins to venting to your Instagram followers about your newest pet peeve, we tend to feed off the exchange of personal information. Our beloved Snapchat has recently made this exchange easier and more dangerous than ever.                                                        

     This summer Snapchat introduced an update called Snap Map. The update allows users to share their coordinates via an avatar’s location on a map. Meanwhile the avatar, Snapchat calls an Actionmoji, mimics the activity a user is doing in real time. Cute right? Wrong.

     If the potential threat this update poses is not yet obvious to your 21st century mindset, allow me to shed some light. Snap Map makes a walk home from work on a late night the ideal set-up for someone to rob you. What else would a robber need to know other than what you look like, that you’re alone and you have your headphones in distracted by music?                                  

      Advancements in technology has made communication more efficient.  Nowadays sharing images, messages and even your location is easier than ever. We sign up for accounts on different apps and mindlessly approve updates, saving ourselves time and energy that the old pencil and paper, would cost us. However, as we grow more and more comfortable with these advancements, we become easier targets to harmful things. Having your privacy setting on or off on an app could be the difference between any tech savvy Tom getting ahold of your whereabouts or other personal information.

     It is important to limit access to these kind of details with people that you trust. Considering we live in a time where we may not personally know everyone that we follow, discretion is a must if you chose to use the update. . Limit the viewers to people in your close friend group and you can still enjoy all the fun of the virtual world while being mindful of your vulnerability.

     It is time to find a healthy balance between privacy and communication. Remember kids: sharing is caring, but oversharing is risky.