The rise of social media kind of stole the market from drunk-dialing.
People who get a good buzz going then make that late-night slurring-pleading-sobbing call to a lost love now seem to post their inebriated emotions — or hormones — to Facebook, or Twitter, or MySpace, if anyone older than about 14 still uses that, and really, there are probably more than a few 14-year-olds out there who get a snootful every now and then.
Most probably wake up to regret it. I posted what?!
A new app called The Social Media Sobriety Test could save those drunk-posters the embarrassment they cause themselves. Created by a online security firm called Webroot, it lets users select the social media sites to which they’re most likely to inflict self-loathing and the times during which they are most prone to such lubricated behavior, and the software makes them pass a little sobriety test — such as using the cursor to follow a moving circle on the screen — before firing off those gin-soaked synapses for all to see.
Makes sense, too. A drunken phone call goes to just one person. A drunken Facebook ramble or photo goes to the entire online world.
Try it. You know who you are.
Bruce Felps owns and operates East Dallas Times, an online community news outlet serving the White Rock Lake area. He wishes they’d come up with a Social Media Banality Test.
