This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Drexel chapter.
In the time of AOL and dial up internet connections, our parents told us to never put any personal information online because you’d get abducted on your walk home from school. These days, we share our most intimate secrets on our blogs and don’t really think twice about putting our phone number on our Facebook profiles. It’s acceptable to post pictures of yourself on Tumblr naked, when a few years ago posting ‘nudes’ received the harshest of consequences.
I joined OkCupid a few months ago when I moved to Philadelphia hoping to meet people from my school and start new friendships. I know a few people that have been on several dates
courtesy of OkCupid or even had long term relationships come out of it. I did not get the results I had hoped for. With Match.com being it’s parent site and owner, the dating website and mobile app asks you to spill really personal information about yourself. Unless you describe your religious beliefs, political views, perspective on drug use, and your body type, you don’t get many “matches.” This is stuff I wouldn’t even be comfortable sharing on a first date. Besides your personal information, they base your matches on how “attractive” you are. Wow, what a
confidence booster!
After several weeks of receiving creepy messages from strangers, I disabled my account. But, when boredom struck I went straight to my iPhone and decided to reactivate. My username was my first and last name and I felt very vulnerable. Close to 7 million strangers could see my picture and my real name. With a simple Google search and some Facebook stalking, someone could be knocking on my front door or even show up to my job. In order to change it, I had to subscribe for a monthly fee. I paid for one month and changed my username. But now, I had more power. I could see when people read messages I sent them, I could see who “rated” me and who “liked” me. I became more interested in the site, and invested more of my time in it. However, I soon learned the realities of OkCupid’s mission.
As long as you are logged in on your smartphone, the app is constantly searching for people near you. Especially when traveling, you will get an influx of notifications. Racking up all this data usage can lead to an unpleasant surprise on your phone bill. OkCupid doesn’t secure it’s information and actually sells it to advertisement companies. Whatever you write on your profile and all of your activity, including messages, is considered public information. Anyone in the world can potentially see who you’re talking to and even see the answers to questions that you “answer privately.” If OkCupid were to be hacked, all of the users really personal details would be leaked out into cyber space.
With the amount of social media available, we are more susceptible to the threats of the internet than ever before. If you do decide to meet up with someone you met over a screen, make sure it is in a public place that you are familiar with. Tell your friends where you are going and make sure your phone battery is fully charged. Remember to be careful and know that you have no obligations to anyone you meet. We forget that we still have to be careful on the internet. If you use any dating site or social media platform, be smart and keep yourself safe.