These days, many people don't take a trip to a restaurant or a concert without posting on social media about it. You may post pictures of you enjoying a weekend at home or a walk in the park with friends. But while engaging in social media can be fun, it can be a very dangerous endeavor when you have a personal injury case pending. In fact, your best bet--after you file a personal injury lawsuit--is to stay off social media entirely. Here's a closer look.

Why is staying off social media so important?

Even if your social media accounts are not "public," it is not hard for the person you have filed the suit against, or their lawyer, to gain access to any information you post. Some of the information could be used to argue that you're not owed the damages you are asking for. For example, if you are suing for medical costs related to a back injury but you post a picture of you picking up your child, the defendant's lawyer may argue that this is evidence that your back is not as injured as you're claiming.

Even seemingly innocent posts can be misconstrued. For instance, you may post a status that says "Enjoying this nice warm weather with my family." If your doctor has advised you to spend the week in bed, this status could be taken to indicate that you've been outside, thus disobeying doctor's orders, and are therefore not due the compensation you're requesting. For this reason, the best policy really is not to post anything at all on social media sites while your case is ongoing--no matter how innocent a post may seem.

How can you make staying off social media easier?

If you don't think you can resist the temptation to post, try deleting your social media apps from your smartphone. This way, you can still log in to Facebook, Twitter, and other websites when you're on your computer, enabling you to keep up with what's happening in your friends' live, but you won't have that constant access to your accounts that makes posting so tempting.

If you find that you're tempted to post even without the apps on your phone, then disable your accounts entirely. If you want to use a social media site to keep up with what is going on in the world, ask your spouse or a friend to let you briefly use theirs.

Many a case has been sabotaged by an accidental social media post. Don't make yours the next one.

For more information, you will want to contact a company such as The Fitzpatrick Law Firm.

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