Social Media and Doxxing - Your Thoughts???

[traumaRUs]

So, I first had to look up "doxxing" which is to publicly identify or publish private information about (someone) especially as a form of punishment or revenge.

This recently came up when I read about Joshua Strickland, an RN in Louisianna who posted a selfie at the end of his first day on a new job in which he BLURRED out parts of his name tag. He vaguely mentioned a comment from a patient he had cared for that day without revealing any identifying information. He posted it to a FB group and it went viral as so many nurses could identify with his sentiment.

However, out of the thousands of supportive comments he received there was someone who felt a need to report it. So, they utilized technology to "unblur" his name tag and then reported it to his hospital.

He was fired and is currently unemployed.

So....what are your thoughts on this?

Is it okay to post selfies regarding work situations?

How about the person who reported it?

Do you know your facility policy?

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

On 9/19/2019 at 9:10 AM, Nurse SMS said:

We had a new grad accept a residency position with us, then post on social media that they were concerned they were "settling" by accepting the position (med-surg). We were considering rescinding the offer based on that. Fortunately for that individual they got another offer more to their liking at a different institution. Hope it all works out because they certainly burned a bridge here.

I know I've posted this story before, but I was in a RN-BSN program affiliated with a hospital system. At orientation, we were told this cautionary tale about social media:

The school's policy was to try to place their own graduates in their hospitals first before accepting outside new grads--grads were not guaranteed a job by any means, but they did get preference for hiring when possible. Well, one of their graduates was pretty unhappy with how things were going and was online shooting off her mouth, saying pretty negative things about the job hunt and the school. The school found out about it, was not happy, and decided not to hire her into their system.

How did they find out? An HR rep from ANOTHER hospital in town saw her posts and notified the school.

This second hospital didn't want her for their new grad program either after seeing this. AND they also let the third major hospital system in town know about what she was posting online, so they could decide if they wanted her in their new grad programs. No idea if she was able to land herself that new grad job...

Nursing is a smaller world than you think...and the internet makes it even smaller.

[LovingLife123]

1 hour ago, Meriwhen said:

I know I've posted this story before, but I was in a RN-BSN program affiliated with a hospital system. At orientation, we were told this cautionary tale about social media:

The school's policy was to try to place their own graduates in their hospitals first before accepting outside new grads--grads were not guaranteed a job by any means, but they did get preference for hiring when possible. Well, one of their graduates was pretty unhappy with how things were going and was online shooting off her mouth, saying pretty negative things about the job hunt and the school. The school found out about it, was not happy, and decided not to hire her into their system.

How did they find out? An HR rep from ANOTHER hospital in town saw her posts and notified the school.

This second hospital didn't want her for their new grad program either after seeing this. AND they also let the third major hospital system in town know about what she was posting online, so they could decide if they wanted her in their new grad programs. No idea if she was able to land herself that new grad job...

Nursing is a smaller world than you think...and the internet makes it even smaller.

That’s just wrong. Maybe the first hospital’s units were really awful that they were interviewing for. Some places are awful employers. Stating you are frustrated with a job hunt does not make you a bad employee.

We have certainly traveled backwards in recent years with how we are allowed to speak. We are no longer allowed to speak our minds or voice opinions. God forbid it’s something that doesn’t exactly align with the views of another. They will destroy your life.

The fact of the matter is, you don’t have to love your employer, you don’t have to love what you do every day. You don’t have to like everyone.

Its so disappointing that I feel like we had more freedom 10 years, 20 years ago than we do now.

[ComeTogether, LPN]

Whomever reported him is a total jerk BUT this is why I don't list where I work on social media and I never talk about patients. You just never know.

There are photos of me at work but not in patient care areas and my workplace isn't visible. I also don't share my profile publicly.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

On 9/15/2019 at 10:30 AM, juan de la cruz said:

1. Yes, with a good dose of common sense. Neutral topics and stuff that you can openly discuss without negative repercussions from management, peers, and patients are OK. If you can't tell the difference, just don't.

2. That's the current culture now. You can get in trouble for your political views, your opinions, etc. Best to be careful because the downside to social media is that it's also a public jury of users that can unfairly vilify you and affect your future. People have had careers ruined.

3. Well, the 1 hour annual mandatory learning module covers it and it's enough for me to say it's not worth losing my job to vent anything work related online.

Even before Facebook and other social media, it was unwise to make known at work your personal views. People get very upset when it comes to "politics and religion".

That is, any controversial topic should be intentionally and strenuously avoided with anyone at work or in any other setting, such as between neighbors, that might become miserable if you happen to have a differing view.

It was rotten of whoever unblurred him to do so. It was unwise of him, though, to air his opinion. Hopefully, he will learn this painful lesson and never do it again. And maybe the person who did this to him will repent in leisure.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

8 hours ago, LovingLife123 said:

That’s just wrong. Maybe the first hospital’s units were really awful that they were interviewing for. Some places are awful employers. Stating you are frustrated with a job hunt does not make you a bad employee.

We have certainly traveled backwards in recent years with how we are allowed to speak. We are no longer allowed to speak our minds or voice opinions. God forbid it’s something that doesn’t exactly align with the views of another. They will destroy your life.

The fact of the matter is, you don’t have to love your employer, you don’t have to love what you do every day. You don’t have to like everyone.

Its so disappointing that I feel like we had more freedom 10 years, 20 years ago than we do now.

We had more privacy but no more freedom to speak our minds. At least, that has been my experience.

There are so many people who either enjoy hurting others or who just gossip, badmouth, even lie about others, perhaps not really understanding how they are hurting the subjects of their communiques. Sometimes they do it to try to get ahead, sometimes they don't realize they are hurting someone else, sometimes I don't know what.

I just try to be private about my views, feelings, family, whole life. It is just nobody's business and I don't hear myself being talked about from one end of the building to the other unless it's how wonderful I am to work with, LOL. It's kind of lonely, but that's preferable to the other.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

On 9/17/2019 at 1:05 AM, futurepsychrn said:

I'm going to take a slightly different position here. Are we not still in America where freedom of speech is guaranteed by the 1st amendment? As long as HIPPA is not violated, why would you let someone tell you what you can or cannot say when you are not at work? It baffles me that we have come to the point in this country where we allow ourselves to be made sheep for corporations. If your company tells you you may not EVER have a glass of wine while employed by them, will you do that also? If they tell you you can't shop at a certain store because they don't agree with their policies, do you stop shopping there? If you work for, say a Catholic hospital, and they say you must stop attending your church and only attend Catholic services and you MUST attend church regularly do you leave your chosen religion and do as they say? When you are not on the clock, they are not in charge! When do we say enough is enough? A job is just that, a job, at least mine is. It's not my life it's my job.

Do you have bills to pay? Family to support? you will come to see in the future, if you don't already, that your employer does, indeed, have a lot of control over you - at work and off the clock.

I agree that this is the Land of the Free. But some of that is only theoretical because the practical aspect of saying whatever you like to whomever you wish is that there can be serious backlash. So most people come to see that their private views are often best left unsaid.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

On 9/18/2019 at 4:44 AM, K+MgSO4 said:

Off topic but this is why I snigger with the new members who's first (and only) post is something like "what EMR does hospital X use? I start Monday" and wonder why nobody answers.

Snigger? Why snigger at them? Why not help them?

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

1 hour ago, Kooky Korky said:

Snigger? Why snigger at them? Why not help them?

Because it is outing...if I response with "o yes we use EMR X at this hospital " then it narrows down where I work. Or I respond with "well 5 yrs ago whwn I worked there we used EMR X" and in another post I mention I now work at hospital ABC people who I have worked with can put it all together and guess who I am.

As an anonymous message board I am not outing myself like that. Nursing / health is a small world however much we believe otherwise. Things I say here would not be said in a F2F world as I am in a leadership position - well actually I would but in the right situation.

[Forest2]

On 9/15/2019 at 10:47 AM, TheMoonisMyLantern said:

I think taking pictures at work should be avoided in order to avoid these types of situations. Even when no patient information is revealed most places have policies prohibiting photography while working. That said I think it was pretty trite of someone to go through the effort to report him and essentially cause him to lose is job, to me that's incredibly petty.

Yea, that's someone who stirs the pot with a big spoon. I wouldn't want to be friends with someone like that.

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

7 hours ago, Kooky Korky said:

Even before Facebook and other social media, it was unwise to make known at work your personal views. People get very upset when it comes to "politics and religion".

That is, any controversial topic should be intentionally and strenuously avoided with anyone at work or in any other setting, such as between neighbors, that might become miserable if you happen to have a differing view.

It was rotten of whoever unblurred him to do so. It was unwise of him, though, to air his opinion. Hopefully, he will learn this painful lesson and never do it again. And maybe the person who did this to him will repent in leisure.

Well, I turned 50 this year and I recall a time before the age of online forums and social media platforms when co-workers, friends, and neighbors could openly discuss political issues, talk about their faith or non-beliefs yet not escalate into a big argument and name calling. The face to face nature of those interactions enable people to be civil and respectful of each other. Sure, there were activists and passionate individuals even back then and things did get heated sometimes but it doesn't go to the same extent now where people are way too politically polarized and angry that someone dare disagree with their views.

There is an addictive nature to the false validation of getting "likes", accumulating "friends", going "viral" and being an internet sensation with a cute video. Josh's statement on his viral video aren't any different than the "talking shop" we typically hear in break rooms and when we're out with our nurse friends. But social media is a bigger animal than that. It is more important now to recognize the scary repercussions of all these technology and the toll they can take on our personal relationships, mental health, and livelihood.

I partake of these platforms myself but I do find a need to unplug and just return to the good old fashioned ways before we had all these technology at our fingertips. That's just my opinion.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

2 hours ago, juan de la cruz said:

I partake of these platforms myself but I do find a need to unplug and just return to the good old fashioned ways before we had all these technology at our fingertips. That's just my opinion.

I am just a few years younger than you, and I feel the same. Sometimes I would like to chuck my smartphone and delete my Facebook page!

[Guest219794]

On 9/17/2019 at 2:05 AM, futurepsychrn said:

I'm going to take a slightly different position here. Are we not still in America where freedom of speech is guaranteed by the 1st amendment? As long as HIPPA is not violated, why would you let someone tell you what you can or cannot say when you are not at work? It baffles me that we have come to the point in this country where we allow ourselves to be made sheep for corporations. If your company tells you you may not EVER have a glass of wine while employed by them, will you do that also? If they tell you you can't shop at a certain store because they don't agree with their policies, do you stop shopping there? If you work for, say a Catholic hospital, and they say you must stop attending your church and only attend Catholic services and you MUST attend church regularly do you leave your chosen religion and do as they say? When you are not on the clock, they are not in charge! When do we say enough is enough? A job is just that, a job, at least mine is. It's not my life it's my job.

Yup. Still in America, and the first amendment is still valid.

Josh used it to discuss work in front of thousands of people.

The hospital exercised their freedom of speech to tell josh he is fired.

You are right- employers cannot regulate what you say while not at work. But, they can decide whether they want to maintain a relationship with you. Look at it this way- if your employer said something about you to thousands of people, you might quit.

Or, let's say somebody worked for you has a handy man, or a painter, or babysitter. And let's say they talked about you in public in a way you did not appreciate- would you still hire them?