Cyberspace: a world where sense is no longer common

I AM one of those who contemplated really hard before making the decision to share pictures of my children on any media platforms.

After much convincing from my family and friends who constantly complaint that they don’t see enough of my children, I willingly opened an Instagram account.

I am also one of those who know the unwritten rules or guidelines when posting a picture on any social network. And yet sometime in 2012, I posted an image of my daughter who was looking all cute and adorable after a shower, wearing only a small towel to cover her private part.

People love pictures of babies, there’s nothing NOT to like about baby pictures right? And, so I thought.

But I really was not thinking. Swell with pride, for taking gorgeous baby picture a’la Anne Geddes coupled with the overwhelming excitement I had totally forgotten the danger that lurks around in the virtual world of the Internet.

I took it for granted about the unknown sinister on cyberspace that would cunningly use the picture of my innocent baby girl for the good of evil like pedophilia.

Thank God, for my girlfriend who shook the common sense out of my ignorant and oblivious state of mind and shoved it in the form of text message, minutes after that post saying: “You would never imagine what kind of sick people there are out there, so bring down the picture now!”

At that instance while deleting that picture, I swallowed a little vomit of disgust in my mouth. And at the same time slapping my forehead for the silly things mothers like me do (sometimes) out of an instant excitement.

I prayed that the deleted picture was totally gone and not lurking somewhere in a harmful corner in the virtual world.

Whether you love it or loathe it, Facebook, Instagram to name a few, are the facts of living in the modern world. With that, the arrival of smartphones has made the practise of updating status, uploading videos or anything for that matter close to effortless.

One insinuation is that, most of us give far less thought to what we post online, unlike those days when we had to go home or drive back to the office where there was a PC or laptop or what-have-you before telling the whole realm of the virtual world -- what we had been through or up to.

To err is human. Hence, on any occasion netizens make mistakes – posting photos that are embarrassing or inappropriate or even videos and status that are merely speculations or even malicious.

Just like the case of Tuan Nor Azlim who uploaded the video of a commotion involving an ‘abandoned’ baby in Shah Alam.

The video showed a group of people trying to break the window of a car to save a baby who was hysterically crying, holding on to dear life after the parent left the infant in the vehicle to attend to an errand. Merely minutes later, the baby got rescued and survived with minor trauma.

To know about Tuan Nor Azlim read: Tuan Nor Azlim mohon maaf atas sebaran video bayi terkunci dalam kereta.

Tuan Nor Azlim with the intention of being a good Samaritan and probably also brushing up his journalistic intuition, without hesitation, uploaded the video with a caption that insinuated the ignorance of a mother who left her baby all alone in the car.

But truth be, that the mother of the baby, was amongst the crowd trying to free her baby after the auto-lock to the doors failed to function properly and locked the baby inside before the mother could get to the baby.

Tuan Nor Azlim did apologize, also via his Facebook page. Then again, damage has been done. The baby’s face was exposed and the baby’s mother was humiliated. No amount of money or time can bring back those vital seconds when Tuan Nor Azlim click on the upload button.

The biggest mistake one can do is NOT learning from that mistake. What I learnt from mine is that: number one, always, always think twice and more before uploading any pictures, especially of children.

Number 2: Should you need to upload a picture of other people’s kid, always ask and seek permission from their parents before putting it up.

And number three, do not be hasty and obsessed over uploading a video, picture or even statement at that instant without knowing the fact behind it. Always do your research, check and balance, and if you are too lazy to do your research, just leave the news reporting to the professional reporters or journalist shall we?

I guess it is true what they say about cyberspace and its netizens- that the existence of cyberspace and the convenience that internet has provide has caused us to become less in touch with real human communication.

And that it has caused us to lose our common sense, for which sense has become rare and is no longer common.

Lesson learnt.