Tag Archives: instagram

Screen Time – The Impersonator, The Player

General, Information 2 Comments

Hello my enthusiastic readers! I know that you all are reading my post after ages. I had horribly slowed down this year, with only one or two posts and that too I wrote just to keep my blog up and running. Even I feel that I had a downfall in my followers. But I am not so sure about it, since I have not kept any track for a year.

So this year is approaching its farewell and hence I thought a lot about writing something, which I love. Since I am into motherhood now, I am more into finding stuff for my kid so that she can stay away from the Digital Entertainment i.e. Screen Time. But to be honest, in spite of many things, still the screen time is not less. But my daughter eagerly waits for what will be her next session or next play.

To make this work, obviously I have to take help of screen and i.e. Instagram. Though Instagram has a lot of rubbish content, it also helps with ideas for home-sitting parents. At first, I started with craft. I am not at all a craft person but since kids love to do this, I started searching for simple craft. Some crafts were cute and some turned into horrible irritations. So, if you are a parent, and if you want your kids to stay away from the screen, then the first option after their homework and other studies is craft. I stay in India and India has many festivals. So my first craft is always of that particular festival. Now, since it’s Christmas and new year time, I have told my daughter to make greetings for their friends. She zealously searches for new designs on Instagram and YouTube. But here, again the screen time. Screen time did not end here because to make that stuff, me n my kid had to watch that particular video. Basically, I encouraged Digital Entertainment by myself.

Simple Craft

I am into social media. I even scroll Linkedin and I do read the professional contents. I do follow a few mompreneurs there and then one day, I came across one post, where I saw that the kid was doing lots of physical activities. The activities were pretty good, but in order to make it work, someone has to be there to make their kid do that activity. As a mom, I can’t make my kid do physical activity alone. Well, any activities, I have to be present there, with her. There were many comments to this post saying one parent has to be free to make this happen. Then one replied that his daughter is into reading and she keeps on reading, claiming that she is not having any screen time.

Well a debate here. Yes, reading is excellent, great, incredible, outstanding. But reading all the time will make your child introverted and boring. Child has to be active and expressive. For that, children should know how to talk and also should know how to fight with their friends. Yes, I make my child read books. But not more than one or two chapters in a day. But wait, I saw that, the man who commented about reading, had actually uploaded her daughter’s photo. The daughter was reading on iPad. So????? screen time again. What’s the use of reading a book, if you are making them read digitally? Yes, his daughter is increasing knowledge, but at what cost?

So scrolling down LinkedIn, recently I came across one mompreneur’s post, who has invested her time as storyteller, saying it is compulsory to keep story reading sessions once in a month, along with kid’s friends and their parents. Well, it’s very hard to find such a group. But I loved this. I don’t know whether I can keep such sessions or not. But I will definitely try this with my kid and one of her friends. The mompreneur even explained how to make it fun. Whatever story we are reading to them, make them draw or make them enact and take their video. In this way, drawing will help in their imagination and enacting will help in their public speaking and will overcome stage fear. This will also make them fall in love with reading.  

And what else can you do with your kids at home to avoid screen time? Teach them stitching. I am not saying teach them embroidery, but some basic stitching like running, back stitching etc. For this, you don’t need to buy anything. Take some rough / old cloth and teach on it. Well, I have started this. Yes, my daughter is bored now. Though, I told her that it’s not a one day job but you can do this everyday for 10-15 mins.

Sounds great, right!! But what if I say that all these activities your kid will not do alone. You have to sit with them, then? Well true, Your kid will not do these activities alone. They will sit for like 5 mins and if you are not around them, then they will easily get distracted and also leave the place messy. So what then? Above all these, first teach them to clean their own stuff, to keep their own stuff at its own place. Else you will be the most exasperated person. So no option, you have to sit with your kid in order to keep them away from the screen. But the problem is, the moment I get busy in the kitchen or in some other house work, my daughter starts scrolling Instagram or will watch videos on YouTube.

So is there any solution to this? Well, as such no. All you can do is be strict in their screen time. Some phones do have screen time options. Unfortunately you have to keep your phone and other devices in the kids zone mode. Always keep a password to payment gateway apps. Download some educational games like recognition of flags or sudoku. At Least your kid will play and learn a few things. I always do this, as soon as my daughter is back from school, she finds one motivational quote or good lines about her and one small puzzle to solve on her white board. She willingly solves such puzzles.

After School Activity

So again the same question; What about the screen time? Well, ask yourself first. Are you ready to give up on social media? Are you ready to give up WhatsApp? Are you ready to keep your mobile aside, whenever your kid wants your attention, no matter how urgent work you are doing or some informational video you are watching? Are you ready to switch off the TV, in your me-time, when your kid is watching mobile? If yes, then yes, screen time will drastically reduce and If no, then invest your time with your kid.

Back in the golden days, we didn’t had mobile phones but we had TV and we all grew up watching TV all the time. We all had a whale of a time watching TV i.e. we too had screen time. Nothing has changed. The only change is that now we have different varieties of the screen. 

And I Am a Loser

General, Information, Knowledge 9 Comments

Hello my readers. A very fantastic day to you all. Today, I am here to tell you about my personal story. Well, not a boring one but something you should be aware of and you should learn and never repeat the mistake which I did.

On 23rd May 2023, around 2.30pm – 3pm IST, my Instagram account got hacked. And I am solely responsible for this hacking. You all know that I was an ex-website programmer. In the year 2008 – 2015, I was into Facebook and Twitter coding for fetching data and analysis. Looking at these websites, I always had the curiosity to know how these website loads huge data including no. of counts, few comments, photo, name, followers count, following count, post count, etc, etc in one go and in microseconds time and without page refresh, how notification works etc. Apart from this, I always wonder how privacy / security works. So, I did this. Back then, I created around 4 accounts on Facebook, opened different browsers, and started checking from how friend requests works, what’s the difference between friends-of-friends, once a photo is uploaded then a third person will be able to stalk this or not , etc. I juggled a lot between the browsers and I found that many privacy settings were not up-to-the mark. Yes, the privacy of Facebook was not at all secure (in and around the year 2008-2015).

Months and years passed, I made many Facebook apps and finally I became pro in Facebook. I was even awarded by one of my companies for pulling out all the content of a Facebook page, posting content / photo / video on a friend’s wall through an app. So, I was well aware that I can do anything on a friend’s timeline without their permission. Though that time, all data was provided by Facebook, still one kind of security breach. So I was fully aware that I have to use social media very carefully. I should not miss any notification from them. And have to check privacy settings very often.

When I started my career, one of my renown websites was hacked. I had my learning and from that day, I started writing code and queries very carefully. And I never took these hackers lightly. I always wrote code thinking hacker in my mind.

Now, I have been a housewife for the past 8 years. So this coding and hacking has taken a completely new face. And in these 8 years, I became addicted to social media. Yes, I upload my personal photos / videos on Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp status but I always took care of my privacy settings. I have very few followers because I want only a few people to see those photos / videos. Not only that, over time when the privacy settings changed on Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, I activated that. Means, few people from my followers were not allowed to see  the stories I shared, were not permitted to see my Whatsapp profile pic and Whatsapp status, etc. Not only that, If I have saved someone’s else number like delivery man, laundry man, etc and if they are on whatsapp, then I block them.

So this is me. Addicted to Social media  but with hell lots of privacy settings on and  always guided and encouraged other people to take complete usage of these settings. And on 23rd May, 2023 everything changed. 

Few days before 23rd May, On Instagram, I got a friend request from one of my friends. I know her personally and her work, so I accepted it. After accepting, she messaged me on Instagram messenger that she is running one modelling contest and she needs my “Vote”. My friend, who is a life coach, has complete knowledge on fashion, social worker, and always helping nature n hence I didn’t get a second doubt on her. I replied, “Ok, but how and where to vote”. Many days passed and there was no response from her and I even forgot about it.
So on 23rd May, this was our conversation.

She: Hey for voting, I want you to add this Email ID for 3 minutes and later you can change it again (gave one email id, I don’t remember it now)
Me: Ok, But where should I add it?
She: You have to go to your profile, edit your personal settings, click on “Add email ID” (sends few screenshots)
Me : Ok
* Me went  back to profile, edit the personal settings*
She: Add this Email ID (Sends me Email ID)
Me: * Me left that editing, went back to messenger, to copy that Email ID. Come back to personal settings. Here, I was surprised to see the new settings of adding / changing the Email ID. So I added her Email ID. Instagram then asks me for secret code (OTP) which was sent in the other email ID*
She: *Gives me the secret code in Instagram messenger*
Me: *Leaves the editing part. clicks on several back, to go to messenger just to copy that secret code. Went back to edit my profile but since previously I had clicked on “back” hence all the work was undone. So I did all the procedures again. Here I was a little frustrated because of back and forth. Since the procedure was done again. I needed that OTP again. But this time OTP was of 4-5 digits only and hence I was able to remember it and directly typed it. In this frustration, I was about to click back just to tell her that don’t message me on Instagram. Whatsapp me instead. And in the meantime.*
She: Send me your whatsapp number

… and this sentence killed me …  

She is my friend and she HAS my number. My hands and legs were numb. and then I shouted. “SHIT. This is not my friend. My instagram is hacked”. I called that friend, and she told me that her own instagram account has been hacked. Her account has been cloned too.

The last step, instagram asked me was, “This is me / This is not me”. I swear guys, I clicked on “This is not me”. but it didn’t work and I got logout from my account.  I immediately ran, took out my laptop. Firstly, I changed the password of my other accounts. and then I came back to change the password of my personal account. But my email ID was changed to the email ID which was given by them. All the password reset link  and other links were going to the hacker’s email ID.

I reported to instagram about his hacking. Even wrote an email to them. Even send messages on twitter and Linkedin. But seriously, no response / no automated email from them. Then this thing happened on Linkedin.

Since I had posted on Linkedin about my hacking, I got comments from a few unknown people saying that the instagram help center is the worst and they never care about such issues. They then gave me some email ids and also their instagram account and told me to contact them. Now since I was not at peace, I contacted one on instagram from my other account. We had a few chats and then I was like; “Wait, now don’t believe anyone.” I then went to linkedin and saw the people’s account who commented on my post. To my surprise they had 0 connections. I was like, how come they don’t have any connections on linkedin. I saw their profiles in detail, to which I saw that they have commented the same thing to almost everyone whose instagram account was hacked. I immediately stopped the chat session and blocked the account.

Now, what’s next? I am still finding my luck to retrieve my account. Even asked a few ex-colleagues. One of my friends suggested to report this to cyber crime.  I got a few emails from the internet and emailed them. I got a response from one of them too. Later, I went to twitter to search for some handles there. And this is what I got from twitter. The Cyber crime had mentioned the exact same procedure of how hacking takes place on Instagram. After reading their tweet I felt like a complete loser. I was the one who used to guide everyone about social media safety, and I only fell into the trap. Why didn’t I get  a second thought? I mean who changes the email ID like this? I was the one, I myself gave the complete access of my personal account to the hacker. I, who made many, many, many voting modules in life, completely, horribly failed to understand that we cannot vote by changing the email ID of someone else ID. I, who wrote many validations, completely failed to check the username of the cloned ID.

I, who was once a proud web programmer, now a complete failure. Can’t even imagine myself in such a situation. A very big nah-nah-nah-boo-boo for me.

If you are from India, and your social media account is hacked then you should definitely do this process. You have to fill a form on this website. https://cybercrime.gov.in/ . The form is lengthy but please have patience to fill it. At least you will be safe from your side that you have reported the problem.

Yes, I am a loser. A Big Loser.

Update 1: I was checking my profile from my other account. Since I have very few followers, hence checking the follower / following list is not a huge task for me. This is what I found. I request you all to “report” this account. This is a fake account.

https://www.instagram.com/upasanaborah08_____/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

Also, one thing I noticed is this website link. The account who hacked my ID had the same website link. So requesting you all, if you get any request which has this website link, then please do not accept that request. It might be the hacker.

Have a safe social networking.

The Zodiac Signs

General, Information 5 Comments

When I heard about the Zodiac Signs, I wondered what is this? First of all, what is the meaning of the Zodiac Signs? So as per the internet, “it is a belt of the heavens within about 8° either side of the ecliptic, including all apparent positions of the sun, moon, and most familiar planets. It is divided into twelve equal divisions or signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces)”. So basically, the Zodiac means circle or cycle or round or merry-go-round which is divided into twelve equal signs.

So when I was in school, and I came across these Zodiac Signs, the first thing that came in my mind was, who will remember these names now? Because at that time, I was already learning the names of Indian months. And believe me, It’s still difficult for me to remember the names and also its spelling. And my next question which is always the same for everything, i.e. who invented these signs?

As when I grew up, I saw that many actually follow their signs. Like, they will check in the newspaper about their today’s horoscope and act accordingly the whole day. This annoys me alot. I am not against reading fortune or astrology. But stop disgracing others. If the fortune says, stay away from people whose names start from “d” (for example), People actually followed that. Whole day they will ignore friends/ relatives, even their family members whose names started from “d”. This might have given you good luck, but you ended up losing someone. So is that good luck to you?

I always wonder, what’s there in these Zodiac Signs? Why does it have an effect in our lives? Like in India we say “Shani bhaari hai, Raahu – ketu ke prabhaav hai, etc”. Does this really affect our life? Or does it affect our “mind” and hence our life? Well, this will be a big debate.

When Instagram started ruling, I came across this handle. Well, my Zodiac Sign is Virgo. To be more precise, August Virgo. Because, this handle distinguishes August Virgo and September Virgo. According to this handle, August Virgo acts differently and September Virgo acts differently. September Virgo are more dangerous than August Virgo. So I started following. Following this handle, not the sign. Some facts were so true that actually made me to like it, share it and comment on it. One such fact is “Virgos are introverts, But when you know them you will wonder, why she / he doesn’t stop talking”. Well, very true.  

But wait, is this behaviour just because I am Virgo or because I chose to be like this? If this is because of Virgo, then I can’t change myself. Virgo has to change in order to change me. But If this is because of me, then I should not change. Because who cares, if I change. Still a big question to point at Virgo sign. I am perplexed.

I usually don’t open up until I know the person. Once I start knowing them, Then I show all my different faces. In Hindi it is, “mere alag-alag roop”. 

Mere Alag-Alag Roop

Since, I don’t earn now and hence I do some timepass research. So I searched who is the enemy of Virgo? So google said, “Virgo enemy signs include Sagittarius, Aries, and Gemini. These signs do not get along with Virgo”.  Ha ha!. I am married to Gemini, and that too love marriage. Yes, we do fight but we are not enemies at all.  And again, Ha ha ha Ho Ho Ho! My daughter is Aries. She has no choice when she says that she wants to eat different food and I denied it. Poor girl, eats whatever I make.

Well, wait, Should I worry? That means father-daughter will plan a big plot against me? Oh No!! Then I should run. Anyways, again as per internet, Virgo is the second sign who runs from situations, when things don’t go as per their plan. But who cares?

Since I have lots of time to waste on googling about Virgo, Hence what color is Virgo attracted to? The colours that appeal best to a Virgo are pastels and pale shades such as peach and mauve to light blue and light pink. Apart from these, earthy colours like grey, dull brown, and all shades of brown appeal to them. — Wait… what ?? pale shades, peach, light pink, grey, dull brown??? Seriously ??? I hate these colours.. Now the question arises, Am I really a Virgo??

Following your signs is not an issue. Issue is when you create an issue out of it. Read, understand and leave the content aside. It’s the people who are good or bad to you, not their sign. Like I said, My husband is Gemini and my daughter is Aries, does this mean that they are enemies to me? No.. not at all. Even people sharing the same birth date have opposite personalities. So, just read your horoscope, take a few points seriously, and be alert. Anyways, you have to be alert every day, every minute, even if the horoscope says, “Good news ahead”.

Hope you like reading my post. Do like and comment. Pingbacks will be appreciated. Be alert, be safe.. Thanks a lot.