You is a TV show about a serial killer who also happens to be hot.
It’s also about the dangers of social media stalking, stalking in general, and lads who appear to be perfect but are actually psychopaths.
Nothing about the show is reflective of how a healthy relationship should be, but part of what made You so successful and so unnerving were the aspects of Joe’s character that made him appear so normal.
Sure, haven’t we all vaguely stalked a person’s social media before going out with them and subsequently murdered their boyfriend and best friend in cold blood?
You definitely have. And ‘freeclimbing’ isn’t all that different.
Sorta.
According to research compiled by Vivastreet, Freeclimbing is the act of going deep (and we mean deep) on a person’s social media who you plan to potentially date in the future.
Going deep on the lurk front may seem like a good idea at the time, but realistically you’re going to end up coming across a post or a photo that you don’t like.
It’s in that way that the act can be a tad dodgy or, if you want to get dramatic about it, dangerous.
Talkto explains the origin of the trend’s namesake, citing Freeclimbing as:
“The act of searching through a dating prospect’s social media accounts and going backward in their history. This is characteristically dangerous, just as free climbing is, hence the term.”
Makes sense.
Vivastreet decided to do a bit of their own research and figure out how many people are potentially being freeclimbed without knowing it.
Turns out, a good few.
They discovered that one in five people don’t actually know whether their social media profiles are public.
As well as this, 30 percent of people are likely to do a bit of a stalk before dating someone, so it’s absolutely worth knowing what you’ve got on display.
Happy freeclimbling.
Or not.
