Our lives are run by social media. How often have you snapped a pic of your dinner before you even picked up your fork? Maybe you enjoy updating your friends about the crazy places you enjoy going. Though it may not be your intention, putting certain information on the internet can be very risky to your personal safety, and intimate details about your life should not be shared on any social platform. Here’s why.

Hacking is a very common problem on any social media platform, and even the safest and largest of accounts can still be hacked. But you should not only worry about your account getting in the wrong hands, as the hundreds of followers you may have are equally as vulnerable. Your friend’s cousin probably won’t tell the world your current location, but the stranger who hacked her account might use this information without you even knowing.

Even more, social platforms themselves often withhold information you may not be willing to share. As soon as you download Snapchat it will automatically ask you for access to your contacts, photos, camera, and microphone, and will even suggest you include your personal phone number. While you can deny access to these things, a lot of the features on the app still require them to achieve the full effect.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his company have recently confirmed that conversations on Facebook Messenger are scanned by “automated tools”, which means that your messages do not just stay between you and the receiver. They do this to make sure that messages including violence and child pornography are not being shared, and that the platform is being used safely. The thought of Facebook storing the information of millions of people has caused many social media users’ trust for the app to be broken.

In March, lifewire.com wrote an article about the 5 things you should never share on Facebook. After reading this list, you may realize that you post all of these things quite often. These are all things that Lifewire says you should at least consider before posting.

• The full birthdays of you or any family members– Lifewire states that by doing this, you are “providing identity thieves with one of the 3 or 4 pieces of personal information that is needed to steal your identity”.
• Your relationship status– a stalker will most likely target you if you enjoy complaining about being single all of the time, or if the absence of a spouse often leaves you home alone.
• Your current location– this one may seem obvious, but many people do it all the time. This is just another fact that you would never tell strangers, so you shouldn’t tell Facebook.
• When you are home all alone– this is another thing that you would never tell a stranger. I hate to disappoint, but Home Alone was not a true story.
• Pictures of your kids with their full names– as a new parent, it is very tempting to post the exact time and date that the day your child is born with a picture of them all wrapped up in a blanket. Sharing these details is extremely detrimental to your child’s safety!

Of course, there is not a high chance that your information will get in the wrong hands, but it can happen to anybody. The next time you post something, make sure that none of the information is something you would never tell somebody that you have never met. If you pay attention to what you post, your information will stay safe.