A few months ago, while on a family vacation in Washington, DC, my mom sent a text and asked, “I thought you were in DC.” I replied that I was but I wasn’t posting pictures because my oldest daughter was staying in our house alone and I didn’t want to advertise that the majority of us were out of town on Facebook.
At first she may have thought that I was just one big worrywart but then during a phone call a week or two later, she told me that not posting vacation photos on Facebook was probably a very good idea.
You see, my mom works at a rehabilitation hospital as a case worker. Her rehab hospital is the place where people go when they’re too sick to go home but taking up too much room and resources at a real hospital.
One recent admission was a 21-year-old young man who will never be the same. My mom said that the college student had been at a party. The family who owned the house where the party took place were on vacation. The family’s son had posted pictures on Facebook letting all his friends know that he and his family were far, far away, so some of his friends took advantage of that fact and hosted a party.
While at the party, two known thugs got into some heated discussion with the 21-year-old and they beat him until he almost died. And here’s the kicker that I have been hearing more and more in the news. The kids at the party who were witnessing the beating took out their phones and videotaped the beating. If they had used their phones to call 911 instead, this 21-year-old student’s life would have been much different.
This 21-year-old was the only child of a single mother who worked tirelessly to make sure her son avoided the gangs and embraced education. And now because her son attended a party, she will have to care for him for the rest of his life.
Here’s a warning to you all who are posting vacation photos from Italy, France, Thailand, or even one state over, you never know who’s watching your Facebook feed and planning a party not in your honor, but in your absence.
Share your photos of your vacation after you return. As your friends, we want to see your pictures and how much fun you had, but just wait.
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Reblogged this on Shallow Thinking.
That is a really good point!
And also, such a sad story.
Here there isn’t even the “thing” where people hire someone to house sit, like people do in the US, so I’m happy that we’ll have friends come over to feed Pixel while we’re away, so the apartment will see some activity at least instead of being empty like that.