Facebook Safety Issues Prompt Calls For ‘Panic Button’

I’ve just been reading about the safety concerns of parents whose kids are talking freely to complete strangers on Facebook.

Their worries are certainly founded in truth, as recently there has been a spate of criminal activity in which fake profiles have been set up for nefarious means, with grown men wanting to contact children for their own illegal and repulsive means. Facebook’s reaction will apparently be to install the required danger button for worried kids to click in case of a strange encounter, but they’re begging for users not to refer to it by the name ‘panic button’ – presumably feeling that it’s very marketing unfriendly and implies that Facebook offers its users reasons to be frightened.

The online environment can be dangerous – we’re all aware of that – but even as adults, we have to be careful. In a lot of cases, no amount of wisdom can prevent a determined predator from giving us trouble, but there are ways to spot daters who aren’t entirely what they seem.

The key to dating successfully is to use your intuition when listening to people’s answers when you ask them about their lives. But equally, to use your common sense when gauging whether or not they’re giving out a true picture of themselves.

It’s a difficult balance, admittedly. It’s easy to be persuaded by a person with an apparently excellent job when you have no reason to believe they haven’t got the dream career they describe. It’s also very easy for some people to distort the truth of their family situations, whether they’re still actually attached to an ex-partner or what their relationship is like with their children. But there are steps you can take to ensure your own safety.

Always conduct your first meeting in a public place – or even your first few meetings. Sometimes it may take a series of rendezvous for you to work out if you entirely trust someone. If your date-partner has a problem with this, then you should question why, as it’s a practical and wise move to ensure your own safety.

After a date, even if buzzing with infatuation, it’s a shrewd move to go over again all their answers to your questions and the details of the conversation. Occasionally, despite the wine and the smiles, something they said may have lodged in your head as being peculiar.

Don’t brush these things aside, as your wisdom is trying to tell you something. Discuss it with trusted friends and family and see what they make of it.

Having said all that, it’s one thing being pragmatic and quite another to be paranoid.  Don’t rule out trying something again just because you had a bad experience.  So many people vow never to date again or do online dating because of a bad  experience.  To me, that’s a bit like a toddler saying – “well that’s it, I’ve fallen down, so I’m never going to try to walk again.”  I mean, jeepers, where would be all be if we thought like that?

So, do make sure that you have your common sense intact and your natural scepticism switched on before any date you go out on – just as a safety precaution – that bit is in your control.

But most importantly, don’t come from a needy position, think about what you are projecting and what type of person that is attracting, listen to your ‘gut’ or intuition and then decide that  you will  have a great time!