Social media is so prevalent in our lives today that it is just second nature to tell the world what we are up to. Whether it is posting a picture of our dinner, new pet or extravagant vacation, having fun is no longer enough if everyone else doesn’t know about it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure your friends and family love to see the photos of the bear you just saw in Algonquin Park or Dean Brody walking out on stage at Lucknow’s Music in the Field, but guess what….? so do criminals.

Within seconds of taking a photo it can be posted to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for all to see. You may think that by doing this you are telling everyone that you are #lovinglife #vacation #gonefortheweekend. But all criminals see is #emptyhouse #nobodyishome #comestealmystuff!

Social media is the 21st century way of staking out a house. Instead of the criminal sitting outside and learning your routine to know when they can break in, now they can just log onto to facebook and check out where the last place you “checked in” was.

With summer now here, your newsfeed is probably full of friends posting pictures of their camping trips and summer festivals. But keep in mind your friends may not be the only one seeing these posts.

In order to protect yourself, take a look at your privacy settings on your social media accounts. Make sure you know who can see your posts and what personal information you have listed like your address, phone number etc. And before you post your next selfie with your #new50inchflatscreen, think twice because what you might actually be saying is #TVyoursforthetaking.