I thought over-sharing had reached it’s peak on social media. I’ve seen plenty of annoying/absurd things being shared on Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. Â People have posted pictures of the food they’re about to consume, the subway station they’re at and even the selfies they’ve taken at funerals. The latest over-share really has me questioning whether people understand how social media works – in that, it’s public and once posted, anyone can see and use the information posted. The trend: people sharing pictures of their debit cards.
If that wasn’t bad enough,  I just came across the story of this young woman who clearly doesn’t understand the meaning of “identity theft”. First, she posted a picture of her card:
And then, she posted her security code:
Then, she got a new card… and posted that, too:
A part of me thought that this was a joke, that no one could fail to see the harm in posting their debit card’s information online. But when I read through the young girl’s timeline, she didn’t seem bothered by her actions, or the attention she was getting.
Sharing debit card photos has become such a trend that there’s now a Twitter account which retweets the photos people have posted of their cards. @NeedADebitCard‘s bio reads, “Please quit posting pictures of your debit cards, people.” I’m not really sure how reposting the pictures is helping anyone; maybe it’s supposed to be a public shaming?
Most of the people who share their cards do so with an excited message and some have covered up the information on the card with their hand but the volume of cards posted with full name and numbers information is truly worrisome. I think this goes back to the (very) naive thought that what is posted online is safe. Somehow, I don’t think these folks would post such personal information and leave it on their front door for all to see. Yet, they don’t see a problem with it being posted in a manner that is very hard to get taken down.
The next time I see a friend’s Instagram feed be taken over by food pictures, I’ll have to remember that it could be worse. Much, much worse.