Information has been expanding exponentially in this internet age. In the past it used to double every ten years. We were already found ourselves unable to catch up then. Now things have become worst. People tend not to process the information they received by carrying out fact finding, too eager to pass it over to their contacts. Of course, nowadays with the help of technology, it has become faster and easier to do such than by word-of-mouth. Hence, we ended up receiving lot of junk stuffs and many of them are ‘hoax’ in nature.
The most common types of Internet hoax are those related to internet viruses and health tips from the ‘experts’. Here are some that I received recently:
(1) Internet virus alert message (Update Window live) – It has been circulating over the years, resurfaced from time to time. It claims that it will burn your whole hard disk and render your computer irreparable. It says that this is the worst virus announced by CNN and has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive one, and discovered by McAfee. You can’t find any such announcement on any of these companies’ websites!
(2) All European new born babies will be micro chipped from May 2014 – The news says that his chip will also be an impressive GPS sensor that will task with a micro- disposable battery every 2 years. It will be linked straight to a satellite, which will guide the networks. Interestingly, this article attracted 180 comments from readers who believed this news is true!
(3) On Dec 31st and 1st Jan 2014, the popular Whatsapp will become chargeable. It will cost 1 cent (euro) per message. However if one sends this message to 10 people, it will show that he is an avid user and his logo will become blue, otherwise, whatsapp will activate the billing!
(4) A FB user received information from someone that FB has changed its privacy configuration that any person on FB anywhere in the world has accessed to someone else’s photos posted, the “likes” and “comments”, unless he asks all his contacts in FB to do these steps. First, place the cursor over his photo that appears in the box (without clicking) and a window will open. Now move the cursor to the word “Friends”, again without clicking and then go to “Settings”. Un-check “Life Events” and “Comments” and “Like” and “photos”. This way, his activities with his family and friends will no longer be made public. Fortunately he was told shortly by a friend that this is an old scam. None of his contacts wasted their time by following his weird and ludicrous ‘instructions’!
Health tips by ‘experts’ are the most proliferated ones as everyone wants to stay healthy. I learnt not to take anonymous health advice seriously as many are contradictory. You can end up confuse, and do more harm to your body by following these tips blindly. The ways they explained how our body works are utterly ridiculous, for examples:
(1) ‘Why do people need to urinate so much at night time? Answer from the Cardiac Doctor, Dr Stephen Mak (is there such a person?) - Gravity holds water in the lower part of your body when you are upright (legs swell). When you lie down and the lower body (legs and etc.) seeks level with the kidneys, it is then that the kidneys remove the water because it is easier. Correct time to drink water is very important. Drinking water at a certain time maximizes its effectiveness on the body: 2 glasses of water after waking up - helps activate internal organs ;1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal - helps digestion; 1 glass of water before taking a bath - helps lower blood pressure; 1 glass of water before going to bed - avoids stroke or heart attack.’
(2) ‘It's important to know how and when to eat fruit. It means not eating fruit after a meal! Fruit should be eaten on an empty stomach. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach, and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil. Eat your fruit on an empty stomach, or before your meal! Fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas. Hence, you bloat! Grey hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes -all of these will NOT happen if you eat fruit on an empty stomach.’
(3) ‘Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer! The cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you've just consumed, which slows digestion. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It may even be your own life!’
