When you get home from a vacation, there’s tons to do, and one thing many people think about is posting about their vacation. You don’t have to do this, in fact, I believe there are many reasons why you shouldn’t. People won’t realize you’ve been away Even those who post multiple times a day take time off, and rarely have I seen someone comment and ask if that person is away. Why? Because there’s always new content from someone else, most people don’t acknowledge that someone wasn’t posting for a while until the person who was away mentions it. Yes, those who physically live near you may notice you’re away, and you may need to tell someone you’ll be away to ask them to check on your place every few days. I would hope those people won’t tell more people than are required that you’re away, and that they would do a neighbourly lookout on your place to ensure everything is ok. Why are you wanting to mention it? Why do you want to tell people you were away? To brag? To show off all the cool things you did? Sometimes people want to talk about it to mention the good thing that happened, or mention to stay away from something because of a bad experience. Instead of posting about those, why not tell the people or company directly so that they know. From experience, I’ve learned that companies don’t always improve based on direct negative feedback, while talking directly to people about the negative experience will result in fewer people buying from that company and more people hearing from you (since social media companies don’t show every post to each person). It’s not anti-social if you don’t post Some may say you’re being anti-social by not posting about your vacation. I think the truth is that you’re telling those who really care, or when it’s brought up in conversations. One way to still be social is by inviting someone over to your place to view the photos you took. That way you can have a real discussion about your vacation. What about those people who you don’t invite? They don’t really need to know, do they? I looked at my Facebook friend list recently and saw people who I haven’t talked to in at least six years. Why don’t I remove them? I don’t know, and I’m not the only person who is like this. You’re too trustworthy if you post I’ve seen many social media posts about that person being away, and all I can think when I see those posts is, you’re trusting those who see the post way too much. Seriously, you never know who is reading your posts and who know more details about you then you think. Limit post just to friends or connections? What about limiting the post about your vacation to a smaller group of people like friends? While you may think this could limit the knowledge to a limited audience, what happens if a friend tells a friend? When was the last time you went through that small list? How many of them have you actually talked to in the last couple of months? Facial recognition is improving thanks to your photos By uploading photos of yourself and loved ones to social media, you’re not only helping that social media company recognize you, but also other companies with their facial recognition, sometimes with or without your permission. What do I mean by all of this? Say someone takes an unflattering picture of you, and uploads it to social media. Without tagging you, I believe a site like Facebook can still recognize when it’s you and tag you in their systems without you knowing. Yes, the person taking the photo can tag you, but Facebook may have systems in place which will know when it’s you. What does Facebook do with this information? They don’t publicly say on their website, but I suspect it’s to collect all the information they can about you, and allow advertisers to sell based on as specific or generic as they want. Other companies can use the photos? Because many people set their Facebook profile picture (and other photos) to public, other companies can save them and use them however they want. Those pictures and more could be used within the facial recognition that many cameras offer. While many people see a number of positive reasons for having these types of cameras, they also have a negative side. From being bias, banning people from somewhere because they work for a certain company, misidentifying people, too much worse. What can you to do stop feeding your images to this? Don’t upload them anywhere online. Your photos aren’t unique It’s time to admit something, the photos you’ve taken on your vacation aren’t unique. Somebody has stood at that exact spot. Someone has eaten that exact plate of food at that exact table. Unless you have the money to do truly unique things, someone has done that before you, taken a picture, and most likely posted it online. This shouldn’t discourage you from taking photos, but nobody needs to see the exact same photo of something they’ve most likely seen before. Instead, when you show off photos to those who you’ve invited to see, show the photos that have your personality in them. Maybe you’re taking a photo of someone while they don’t know you’re doing so, with the popular landmark in the background. Do you like to take a photo with your bright flash of pickpockets while they’re trying to get closer to you? How about the person who always have to have hot sauce on everything, and you sneak a picture of them taking the hot sauce out of their bag after the food has arrived? These are all just things I thought of off the top of my head, and I’m sure you have something that makes you different. What about posting misinformation If you really want to post and have “fun” with a post about your vacation, why not spread some misinformation. This just means giving some incorrect information, and it’s not with a malicious intent, just meant to give some true and some false information to the social media companies. What if someone sees it and asks about the false thing I mentioned? You can tell them you didn’t actual go there, and wanted to see who was seeing your posts. Then you can invite them to either your place, a phone call, or a video call, to actually talk about where you have been. How would one write a post like this? You can use the following as an example. Sometime within the last couple of months I went on vacation, I bet you didn’t notice, it’s ok if you didn’t. For me, it was my first trans-continental flight where I got to try Monster Munch and Kanelbulle (which translates to cinnamon roll in English). It’s a privilege being able to travel and go somewhere I’ve never been. Was I writing that just because, or was that something I (yes, Gregory, the person who runs this website) had actually done? That’s for you to figure out, and to see what may be truthful and what may not. After that vacation of yours, do you still want to post about it? Or maybe are you thinking otherwise and deciding how to include those who actually care. Additional links: Pictures, written by me All The Data Facebook Collects - And How To Stop This by Lena Flawed Facial Recognition Technology Leads to Wrongful Arrest and Historic Settlement By Sharon Morioka The new lawsuit that shows facial recognition is officially a civil rights issue by Tate Ryan-Mosley Facial Recognition is a Threat to Your Privacy Living without algorithms by Candost The algorithm doesn’t care if you sleep enough mnmlist: why i deleted 1,000 Facebook friends Perplexity Plagiarized Wired.com’s Story About How Perplexity Is a Bullshit Machine AI’s Water Footprint: The Sustainability Cost of Large Language Models Disclosure about AI usage: I used Claude 3.5 to help me come up with a better title, which I used. I gave it my initial title, and through the various suggested titles it gave me, I used the beginning of one suggested title, and through my own thoughts, I came up with this one. I do acknowledge the ethical and enviromental costs of AI. Including it using content without permission, and the massive energy and water usage.