Online photos, danger to self and others

19 May, 2012

Gone are the days when posting photo albums on Facebook meant posting simple “family viewing” photos. In the last couple of years, what happened in private stayed so.

Technology can be seen as a curse or a blessing, depending on what one intends to do with it.

Over the past couple of years, we have read reports of how young Zimbabwean girls were beginning to post nude or “semi-nude” photos of themselves online. Quite recently, there was an incident of a young girl from a reputable school who decided to send out a photo that was then circulated among other teens in the city. Another incident was of a leaked sex-tape from university students.

There are various consequences that people need to consider when posting explicit photos online.
You never know who will download your photos and most importantly where those photos may end up.

 There are issues of identity theft to consider. Someone may begin to use your pictures under another name or simply send those photos to pornography sites.

Some people are just online to stalk, and will receive instant gratification in sharing content with people who may not even know you.

There is danger in wanting to be noticed.

A young person can easily gain popularity from having something to share, like “exclusive explicit pics of so and so”.

The idea of “sexting”, where explicit photos and messages are sent through mobile phones, using multimedia messaging services and social networking applications like Nimbuzz, Mxit, Whatsapp,  can very well be considered a form of pornography.

When explicit content is posted and shared by any individual, it is perceived with mixed feelings. The perverted are instantly overjoyed and sexually-gratified to have a free display. Some are just shocked and would not be bothered.

Some are disgusted and disappointed. Others are excited while some just won’t care.

Increasingly there is a need to show the world what you are doing, where you go, who you are with and what you look like “in and out” — an underlying need to be noticed, to be viewed as attractive and desirable, to be known.

It may be a demonstration of a need for recognition and enhancing self-esteem.

There is a need that should be met, but in most times, releasing such information, will in the long run, only bring judgment, pity, but disappointment as well.

When explicit content is given out, this provides people instant eye-candy (something that is visually appealing), offering a temporary appeal that then becomes addictive. This is sadly the trend taking place today.

It has even gone to the point where there is something known as eye-candy modelling, effectively a form of soft-porn.

There is therefore no difference between someone who does this professionally and someone who makes an effort to continuously send explicit photos to get attention.