Should You Stop Wearing Deodorant and Ban Ball Pits?

The internet is a wonderful invention. It has changed the face of research, of keeping in touch with friends and family, and even with dating. I recently wrote a hub about how exciting it is when we first discover email, internet, social networking sites, etc. and about how eventually, the excitement dies down. Like anything in life, for as many positives there are about something, there are also pitfalls. The internet comes with the worry about viruses, scams, etc. Unfortunately, many people fall under the World Wide Web's trance and become a little bit gullible. We tend to believe anything and everything posted on the web or that comes across our inbox and accept it as gospel. Many people are becoming more vigilant about protecting their privacy on the internet, but we also need to work on adding a healthy dose of skepticism to our surfing practices.

I once got an email stating that researchers had discovered that wearing deodorant with perspirant in it causes breast cancer. I also received one that told a horrific story of a little girl who played in a ball pit at McDonalds, was stabbed with a hypodermic needle, and later died. And who can forget the one where the woman sat on a toilet in a restaurant, was bit by a spider and met her demise? These stories are scary, and I will admit,I have fallen for many of these Urban Legends. The topic that spurred me to write this today was a post on Facebook telling me I must go into my privacy settings and delete the 20 people associated with automation labs. My gut told me this was an unnecessary precaution as I have my privacy settings set so that unless someone is on my "Friends" list, they can't see my profile, photos etc. But I was intrigued by the names that popped up so I did a little checking. From what I can tell, these people may be associated with an automation lab, but they can't access your account unless you allow them to with your lenient privacy settings. (Also, many people are in an automation lab to enable them to control their Farmville and other apps). Bottom line,if you are worried about it, check your privacy settings and don't "befriend" people you don't know. Make sure that when you upload photos, you set the privacy settings on these as well.

With the popularity of the Internet spreading, unfortunately, scams, rumors and fear spread rapidly as well. I would highly recommend that internet and email users familiarize themselves with a site called snopes.com. This site performs research on widely spread internet and email rumors, hoaxes, or whatever you want to call them and tries to discover evidence that either supports the story or proves it false. Now while this site is not a sure fire answer, I mostly just wanted to remind people to use common sense and a healthy dose of skepticism when dealing with things like this. If something sounds completely outrageous, it more than likely is. And I might remind you that just because you get an email with a picture of Barack Obama holding a copy of the Koran, you need to remember there is this fabulous little invention called Photo Shop that can turn virtually any picture into whatever you want. (By the way, I am NOT an Obama supporter and I actually do believe he has evil intentions for this country, I was just using that as an example.)

All I am saying is this. Remember how your parents told you not to believe everything you see on TV? Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Maybe do a little research before you forward that email to the 400 people in your address book. The chances are much greater that your are actually just supplying spammers with fresh meat rather than warning your friends and loved ones about a legitimate threat.