Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a busy week of work and writing. I’ve been noodling some revisions for one of my stories and I’m thinking I’m going to start my revisions soon. I’m also making steady progress on my latest WIP.
But enough about that. Today, I want to talk about a movie I watched from Amazon Prime. It’s titled “Ingrid goes West.” Ironically, it was recommended by one of my followers on Twitter, but I digress. It’s the story of a disturbed girl who finds someone on social media and they begin chatting.
Ingrid decides to move to the west coast after this person (her name is Taylor) suggests they get together after Ingrid comments on one of her posts about a meal she’s eating. Just like that Ingrid decides to move to the west coast.
It’s obvious Ingrid is unbalanced. She stalks this Taylor person and starts dressing like her, bleaches her hair to look more like her, and eating at the places Taylor posts on social media.
She even kidnaps Taylor’s dog and then returns him in the guise of finding the dog for Taylor. She becomes friends with Taylor and starts hanging out with her and her friends. While at Taylor’s house she photographs her bathroom and medicine cabinet. She spins lie after lie about her life, and eventually gets caught by Taylor’s brother who tries to blackmail her.
This is a cautionary tale illustrating the dark side of social media. If you have a presence on social media, you don’t know your followers and you don’t have a lot of control over them. You can block them, but that’s only after you find out they’re dangerous, and usually by the time you find out, it’s too late.
It’s also an example of why you should always be kind. After Taylor and her friends see through all Ingrid’s lies, they reject her. Ingrid attempts suicide and posts a goodbye on social media. At the end, Ingrid wakes up after her suicide attempt and finds that one of her followers called 911 after her final post has gone viral. So, it turns out okay in the end. Of course it does, this is a movie, but in real life, it doesn’t always work out that way. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are like double-edged swords. They can be used for good and evil.
So, when on social media be careful because you don’t know who you’re really dealing with and be kind, one of your followers could be in a fragile state. Be careful who you allow to follow you, and make sure you know them. What precautions do you take on social media? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!
It’s always a tricky balancing act. With social media, I’m aware that my long-distance stalker is always watching. I never post about being somewhere until I’ve long since returned home. I go back to the old adage, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” For younger people, I see so much of their developing egos tied up in “likes” and the instant gratification they get online. I think it makes childhood and young adulthood very tough.
I agree wholeheartedly. I’m so sorry you have a stalker that certainly is scary. I try to be positive on social media and I don’t post anything really personal. I do worry about the social media generation. Thankfully, my kids aren’t into the social media scene. I hope it doesn’t have too negative of an effect on the ones who’re using it. This movie shows the downside of social media for sure. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. I appreciate it!
Great post, Lisa! I always love it when Generals ask to be my friend on Facebook. Snort. Yes, there’s good and bad things happening on social media. Unfortunately, we must be aware and alert. Cheers, girlfriend!
Thanks for stopping by, Sharon! I appreciate your support. I’ve met many good friends on social media, but I can see where it could be dangerous!
Well, that’s how we met! Wink. Hugs, Lisa!
That’s right! You’re one of my besties! ❤
And you are one of mine 😘
So tricky! On IG, any old rando dude can follow you and I try to be good about blocking once I notice, but already they’ve gone and liked a bunch of photos of my dog, etc. And then, of course, we’re trying to build some kind of following on social media. Seems like that can’t be done without sacrificing a little privacy, which is a real shame!
It is! I agree with you. I try really hard not to post anything too personal on social media because of that very reason. I’ve heard some real horror stories. Have you heard of Hunter Moore? He would hack people’s email accounts after befriending them on social media and post naked pictures of them on his website. It was horrible. I should write a blog post about him to warn people.
Ack!!! Terrifying!
I know! Very scary!