The study found that on sites such as Facebook, men are more likely to accept a friend request from strangers, especially from a user whose profile picture shows a sexy, scantily-clad woman. Unfortunately, this would then lead to access to personal information and it doesn't help that men are more likely to announce their location, have a relaxed approach towards privacy settings and leave their account open for all to view.
As a guy, I think I speak for all men when I say that our confidence levels and egos go through the roof whenever an attractive female wants to talk to us and it sometimes comes at the expense of our common sense. You know how it is, you get approached by a good-looking girl, she asks you if you'd like to hook up and immediately you think 'Jackpot, baby!' and throw all caution into the wind. It's the same with social networking sites. A female user with an attractive profile pic wants to be your friend and you think 'Oh, hell yeah!' without considering whether or not the profile is legitimate. You don't stop to think this user could be a serial killer or an identity thief posing as an attractive woman to gain your attention, and then before you know it, they've either stolen your identity or tracked you down (thanks to your tendency to advertise your whereabouts and your lax approach to privacy settings) and killed you.
I guess this article makes men look like a bunch of idiots, but in our defence it's just something that we're born with. In the wild, the male of every species have several roles (ie: To hunt, gather, provide, protect etc) but their main purpose is to find a female to procreate with. People are no different, hence why men are always checking out other women regardless of their marital status. Us guys provide for and protect the family and we're expected to get married and have children. Sure, civilisation frowns upon the idea of a man cheating on his wife or partner but in the wild, animals are rarely monogamous. Most of them have children with one female then move on to the next. Any man who tells you that such urges never crossed their mind is lying to you. The way I see it, we all have that urge but some of us are better at controlling it than others. Society just wants us to control our natural urges because that's pretty much what separates us humans from beasts. Hence why women often refer to men as 'animals' and 'beasts' and worse, 'neanderthals' whenever we act up. I guess it also explains why men tend to break things, chew with their mouths open, get into fights, forget to clean up after themselves and not bother making themselves presentable unless it is absolutely necessary.
Time to start thinking with your brains, guys. When it comes to social networking, you can't afford to get too reckless. Just because some user with an irresistible profile picture wants to be your friend doesn't mean you have to add them right away. If you have never heard of this person until now, have no mutual friends or interests in common and/or if they don't have many friends to begin with, don't just accept their request right there on the spot. And if upon accepting them you find that their profile and activity looks suspicious, unfriend them right away! Better to be safe than sorry, guys.
And if you are currently in a relationship and are still doing this, you'd better hope to God your significant other doesn't find out, for it must be noted that in the wild, the female of the species can be much more deadly than the male!
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