It’s the end of 2014, ladies and gentleman, and a lot of us probably have Facebook, Twitter, Mxit, Instagram or any other popular social media platform out there on our computers and phones. With every hour that goes by in South Africa, we take pictures and upload them, change our statuses, inbox people, and comment on people’s pictures. But where does it stop?

When do we reach a point where we’ve shown too much or where we’ve said too much on our social media platforms? When do we reach a point where we’ve embarrassed ourselves or even offended the people around us? Or is everything that we upload on our social media accounts always good and never bad, no matter what it is.

You may be wondering why I’m suddenly sounding so frustrated with social media.

The truth is that I don’t really have a problem with social media. I just wonder sometimes whether social media is actually “the good guy” and we, the users, “the bad guys”. I mean think about. Our fingers are the ones that click these upload buttons and type up these words, not social media, not our phones and certainly not our computers. We make the decisions.

But if we’re the ones who make all the decisions, why does it sometimes feel as if we’re not in control? Why does it sometimes feel as if our brains were asleep and our fingers were doing everything on their own?

Well, maybe I should start by not using “We” so much. Maybe I’m the only one who’s done weird or even stupid things on Facebook.

I recently went to the famous Long Street in Cape Town and just like many who’ve gone there before me, I went crazy. While getting drunk I met a bunch of girls. I danced in the streets with them. And by the end of the day, I shared a kiss with the one that I did like. Someone took a picture of us while we were kissing and guess where the picture ended up: on Facebook!

It’s just Facebook, right? It’s not a big deal.

Well, think again.

It is a big deal.

I didn’t ask for her permission. I didn’t think about her and what she might have to deal with if the wrong people saw that picture. Hell, I didn’t even think about how it would affect me if the wrong people saw it. I just uploaded!

And then two days later she sent an angry text to my inbox asking me to remove the picture. I could sense that she was really disappointed in me. The drunken Sicelo who uploaded that picture was very different from the Sicelo she’d met earlier on in the day. The Sicelo she’d met earlier on in the day was still pretty sober, much quieter, and didn’t look like he was capable of doing anything selfish or stupid.

The sad part is that it was my first time becoming drunk, but to her and others who were watching it probably looked like I’m an alcoholic or something.

All of this makes me wonder, then, about the many young South Africans out there that might be getting up to the same crazy behaviour or even worse. Just imagine for a moment, young guys and girls getting drunk and doing reckless things like getting into fist fights or something.

Can we blame the Facebook culture, the alcohol or should we just start by looking at ourselves first? Are we the ones that are giving social media a bad name with our bad behaviour?

Talk to me.

#ChatBack: What’s your experience? Do you know anyone who does this kind of crazy stuff and then puts it on social media? And do you think this is bad behaviour and that it should be changed?