Sonia Gordon: `I’m on Facebook and Instagram but I hardly use my Instagram account. I mainly use that account to keep in contact with friends. On Facebook I make spiritual posts; inspirational quotes, things that would boost your self-confidence. Sometimes somebody would forward something to you and when you read it, it makes an impact on your life and you may be going through something and you don’t know who out there is going through the same, so you share it so it can brighten their day and they can think positively about themselves. I always have concerns about privacy; I am careful what I post on Facebook. I have serious concerns. Even WhatsApp, I be careful what I post on it. You hear so many things, including that those who create these platforms can pull them back, so you always have to be careful what you put and what you say, because it can be used against you’.
Vijoya Taylor: `The media platforms I use are Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp…mostly Facebook and Instagram at the moment. I use Facebook for keeping in touch especially with family and friends who live abroad. With Instagram it’s the same but I use that also for inspiration for my artistic projects and my hobbies, so it has a double purpose…I do have concerns about how public your information is but I realise in today’s world it’s hard to get away from that. You either have it and you know that they’re going to be looking through messages, filtering your content, observing you; or you don’t have anything at all and then you know that you’re completely—most of the time—you’re pretty much safe. But always people have to be careful of their own personal input, what they put on it, because that’s the only thing that you’re responsible for. But I do think that privacy is not guaranteed and I’m slightly worried about it but part of me also thinks we’re giving our identity away on a screen all the time and screens are getting more and more closer to how we live our lives. I have family abroad who don’t see cash anymore; who don’t spend physical money anymore…the tech is living our life for us and it’s kind of the life we built’.
Jory Hector: `I’m on Facebook, I have two profiles; one with 5,000 friends and the other with 4,600. Both profiles are open. People post things and I view but I only post on special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, congratulation messages to people and stuff like that. I also post music updates and use it to put out good messages, especially to the youths…Facebook has become a part of life right now, some people can’t do without it. If I could send out a message like stay off of crime or don’t commit suicide, somebody in the world might bump into it and change their mind from what they were about to do. My posting is limited though because Facebook is a good and bad thing…I never bump into any privacy issues with Facebook but I have friends who bump into problems like that, where people hacked their Facebook. But it’s a good and bad thing because some people use it to show negativity and others use it to showcase positive stuff’.
Stacy Semple: `I’m on Facebook, WhatsApp, Snap Chat and Instagram. I use them to chat with friends and see what they’re up to. I’ve mostly had concerns about the safety of my information on Facebook because they regularly ask you to secure your account’.
Calvin Richardson: `I think people share more personal information than needed but that is a good tool to reach out to people far away and abroad. I am all for the popular social media platforms and I have found it really helpful, especially for keeping in contact with friends. In my opinion, social media sites should not be able to see your private messages and even share what the conversation is about. There needs to be boundaries’.
Senetra Rampersaud: `I use Facebook the most but I also have WhatsApp and Instagram accounts. I use my Instagram to keep up with my favourite celebrities and to keep in contact with friends and family, I use Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. I like using WhatsApp because all your contacts are there, it is not like Facebook which allows a random person to message you. I am not aware of any security breach by Facebook but my privacy settings are closed, only my friends can see my posts. On my page I would usually post pictures and share quotes of memes that I like and find funny’.
Nikita Mitchell: `I am on Facebook and I use it often. I would normally post pictures on special occasions like birthdays and holidays and sometimes make a post on an issue that is affecting me. I updated my privacy settings to protect my data after Facebook sent a notice. I also use WhatsApp’.
Shikema Dey: `I no longer have Facebook but before I never really paid attention to what I posted, I would just re-share random stuff or share random things. I honestly use social media to check up on people and communicate with my friends. I mean, on Facebook, you have a lot of personal information and some people are not conscious of what they post, I know I wasn’t. Any personal information they have; if they have a new job, they would post, and it is because of that that information can be leaked or shared without your knowledge. I think there should be some sort of security in place to not allow those in charge to leak information without person’s consent. Also I think to avoid this people should be more careful with what they post’.
Reavon Schultz: `I have Facebook and WhatsApp. I don’t really pay attention to what I post. I mean these social media accounts you use to keep in contact with persons and other things, and it doesn’t exactly feel safe to know that your information can be leaked. But knowing that it’s risky, I think now you should be careful with what you’re posting. I think no one’s information should be given out without their consent, things like these can destroy people’s careers and their lives in general’.
Quame Caeasar: `I think it’s possible for information to be leaked…if I go onto social media right now I can find other people’s information. I think we should decide whether people have access to our information, but me personally, I don’t have any secretive information. I don’t really have a problem, I mean it’s a tricky situation because really you don’t pay attention to what you post. But then again everything I would post I know that I choose to post so I’m comfortable with my account’.
Outram Shivpersaud: `I don’t know anything about Facebook and WhatsApp and all this nonsense, I see my children have Facebook and they’re on it all the time. I don’t really check what they posting but I think people shouldn’t be allowed to check other people’s information and share it out. Because remember I don’t know about these things but I would think it’s safe for the children. But when you hear things like this [about information being leaked] you really have to tell your children to be careful with what they’re posting and so on’.