The recent explosion at the Boston Marathon was tragic and shocking. The good thing, the FBI identified the suspicious persons through spectator photographs and from the local merchants’ surveillance cameras. However, the question that arises is, with Smartphones and tablets, is there ever a place and time when you are not being recorded?

Today’s digital lifestyle has unknowingly pushed each one of us into the ‘Big Brother’ world. This new age of lack of privacy, due to overzealous posting of pictures and information online, can have a very negative impact on our lives. So, how digitally secure are we?

Images on Smartphone

You take snaps of yourself, your partner, kids and family and then your smartphone is stolen. Of course, there are apps to erase your data. But it takes just 2 minutes to get access to your personal photo gallery. Do you really want a stranger to see those images?

Baby Identity Thief

You are super excited about your pregnancy and post just about every photo and phase of your pregnancy on Facebook. You even go ahead and include your baby’s name and birth date. Wait! You are potentially exposing your baby to identity theft. The sad truth is, you may not even come to know about it, before your kid gets her first job and you come to know that she has an active social security number with years of payroll history.

Read: How to Protect against Identity Theft—3 Free ways to keep you safe

Tweeting all the time

Recently the daughter of Micheal Dell, founder of Dell Computer, tweeted pics about her parents revealing their whereabouts. Her Twitter account was quickly taken down. Sending out information through social media channels about your whereabouts is not such a good idea all the time. It can be a major security risk for you and your family.

Your college degree and your job is at stake

This very second a potential employer or university officials could be scanning through your online accounts, including Facebook and Twitter. Posting inappropriate things on your social media channels is likely to get you rejected. Actually, you can count on it.

The Verdict

What you post or text or Tweet matters. You can also assume that whatever you do in public is going to be recorded. You need to be aware and make your family aware of these concerns of our digital security that can sometimes be life altering.