I have just had the unpleasant experience of having my Twitter account hacked last night, causing untold mayhem amongst myself and my friends!
No matter how savvy, how sophisticated we think we are, we are quickly reduced to wide-eyed children when something goes wrong…as it often does.
Having received a message from a friend, I opened it and was promptly hacked. The little blighter’s then proceeded to work through my contacts by sending out the same intriguing message. Oh dear, what a mess! Several apologies and changed passwords later and I think…think, the matter is sorted. But it got me thinking…
Firstly, an obvious point here, but as so many of us are increasingly reliant on the web for everything from social media, to banking, insurance even mortgages, we are also SO vulnerable to these sorts of random attacks. With identity theft on the increase, are we really safe on the web?
And secondly, it got me thinking about the individuals that do these sorts of things. Now, I’m well known for having a bit of the anarchist in me from time to time, daft as a brush, anti-establishment to a degree, and certainly non-conformist, but random hacking just seems so utterly pointless. They are not hacking a fat-cat company swindling the masses, they don’t even seem to be trying to fraudulently take people’s identities…they really are just doing it for the sake of doing it!
A friend said it was the modern equivalent of a ‘brick’. That there will always be vandals in society and these are just that…mindless vandals.
Yeap, I agree…but again, why? Why vandalise the area you live in? Why destroy when you can create? Vandalism may be in the eye of the beholder when it comes to graffiti – being a Bristol gal, I happen to love Banksey, but I know others don’t. But one thing everyone agrees on, is the utter mindlessness of a brick through a window, a concrete block thrown in the path of a train (yesterday a teenager threw a bicycle at on oncoming train). The consequences could have been utterly horrific!
Disaffected youth? Yes. But why have we as a society so completely failed to inspire these people to do something more creative with their energies? It sounds so old-fashioned, so parochial to say “Get a hobby!”. But in a strange sense, that is what a lot of our youth needs. In a climate where unemployment is spiralling out of control and our youth simply cannot find jobs or even training apprenticeships, if they had a creative outlet, be it art, music, writing, sport etc it would open up their potential and channel their energies in a far more positive direction.
But…I’m probably just a naive dreamer. All I know is that life can be damn hard, and if I hadn’t of had a whole host of interests and hobbies to occupy and inspire me, I’d be in a very different place!
😀
We herald the coming of spring with welcome arms and lifted hearts.
Sophie E Tallis - Author/Illustrator 