Here’s how you can avoid forwarding false messages
This column is for everyone who sent me this, or any similar, bogus social media message:
“Please tell all the contacts in your messenger list not to accept Jayden K. Smith friendship request. He is a hacker and has the system connected to your Facebook account. If one of your contacts accepts it, you will also be hacked, so make sure that all your friends know it. Thanks. Forwarded as received.”
I received more than a
dozen messages like this one lately from so-called “Facebook friends.” While many came from online friends I’ve never met, a disturbing number came from actual friends from real life, friends that I know are not stupid.
Still, over the past few years I’ve seen literally hundreds of bogus messages forwarded to me by my so-called friends. So, for the record:
• Southwest Airlines isn’t giving away free tickets for liking their Facebook page.
• A lottery winner did not die after gold-plating his private parts.
• Nancy Pelosi’s daughter was not arrested for smuggling cocaine.
• Kid Rock isn’t dead yet.
• Chumlee from Pawn Stars isn’t dead yet, either.
• There is no new superfuel that’s 1,693 times more powerful than gasoline.
• Researchers did not find a mummified, threefingered alien in Peru.
• Bill Gates is not giving $5,000 to Facebook users no matter what they share or like.
Forwarding ridiculous messages without confirming their truthfulness just makes you look dumb. I don’t think you’re stupid, but when I receive this kind of garbage from you, I have to wonder.
It took me less than one minute to verify that the message was bogus. Since you obviously don’t know how to verify the truthfulness (or falsehood) of a message, start with a visit to snopes.com, the oldest and largest fact-checking site on the internet. It’s usually the fastest way to debunk (or bunk) urban legends.
In this case, typing “Jayden K. Smith” into the snopes.com search field told me that not only is this particular message untrue, it’s No. 1 on Snopes’ list of the top 50 questionable items currently making the online rounds.
It would behoove you to visit this site before you hit Send or Forward next time.
Just think before you click. Investing a few seconds in research could keep people from mistaking you for a moron. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but wasting my time with falsehoods that could easily be debunked happens to be my pet peeve.
If you are among the guilty, consider apologizing to your friends for wasting their time. Or, don’t and let them continue to think you’re an idiot.