There are many social networks that are part of our day to day, to be in contact with friends and family, to inform us of what is happening in the world, etc. We can name some like Facebook or Instagram. Now, the truth is that there can be saturation. Have you ever stopped to think about the time you spend each week on these platforms? Think, for example, of the time you watch Twitter. It may be just a few minutes, but several times a day and for 7 days a week. That makes many people decide to stop using a social network, close it or leave it on Stand By for a bit. But beware, that can have problems.
Hackers aim to steal social media accounts. That is a fact you should keep in mind. This can happen even if you don’t use a specific account. Hence, it is important to always take measures to protect yourself on the network, to avoid problems that affect your security.
Problems when you stop using social networks
We are going to put ourselves in the situation that you want to optimize your time and decide to stop using a social network. It can be something for a while or forever. Maybe you choose to leave the account running, even if you don’t log in, or you decide to delete it. In both cases, you can have problems.
future attacks
One of those problems is that, in the future and without knowing it, you could suffer a cyber attack. What happen? You leave an account, for example, Facebook, for months or years without using it and you forget about it. An attacker manages to steal your password, something that can happen by brute force, guessing, or exploiting some vulnerability, and takes control of the account.
Since you have forgotten about it and don’t use it, you don’t pay attention and you don’t know what could have happened. From there, they could be impersonating you to get in touch with other people, send viruses, steal information… In the end, they are going to act as if they really were the person that profile corresponds to.
What should you do? If you decide to stop using a social network forever, it is best to delete the account. If you are only going to be there for a while, in some cases you could pause it, but we recommend that you set a very strong password and check that everything is fine, even from time to time.
You have linked services
Another problem you may have is that you have linked services to that platform. It is common, for example, with Facebook. These services could stop using them, you would lose information or you would have problems to enter certain independent platforms. If you delete the account completely, all of that can be lost.
What we recommend, before deleting a profile from a social network, is that you see what you may have linked to it. Perhaps you have services that you want to continue using, even if you do not enter that social network. You can always register by another means, so you could unlink it and save the content.
lose contacts
Of course, another risk is losing contacts. This can happen if, for example, you have some people that you only contact through Facebook, Instagram or a specific social network. You don’t have his number, nor do you have it on other social networks. When you delete the account, you will lose that contact.
It is another factor to take into account. You can always notify your contacts that you are going to delete the account, that you are going to close it for a while, etc. This will prevent you from wanting to contact someone in the future and seeing that you have no way of doing so.
In short, as you can see, eliminating social networks can be an option, but it can also become a problem. It is essential that you think about it well before doing it and thus avoid problems. Just as you can tell if an SMS is a fraud, you can also check if a social media profile is safe or not.
