The rise of personal injury accidents in Illinois has increased rapidly throughout the years. If you are involved in a personal injury accident, there is a high chance you might want to opt for an attorney who can guide you throughout the process. When you are proceeding to file for a claim, the Illinois personal injury attorney you are working with might ask you to stay away from social media, which will put you into a big question –how is social media related to your claim? 

The truth is —the way you use social media can affect the outcome of your claim. Let us learn about the relationship between your social media usage and your personal injury accident claim below. 

What has social media to do with your personal injury accident?

Millions of people use social media every day, including the victim. After your accident, you will likely stay at home to rest until you recover. During this time, you might mostly end up scrolling through different social media platforms and posting on them. 

Let us say you posted your picture from the last vacation with a cute caption. The picture does not have a time and date stamp, which the insurance company will use to claim that you were not injured and that you might be faking your injuries. Although your account might be private, nothing on the internet remains hidden once you put it out to the world. 

Secondly, if you end up posting about your accident or your claim online, there is a high chance that the insurance company will use it in the argument during negotiations to lower your settlement. Each word that comes from and through you is used against you since that is the primary motive of the insurance company –to give you as little compensation as possible. 

What if your account is private?

Despite your social media account being private, attorneys still advise you not to post anything until your claim is settled. If you still want to post online, you need to take the utmost precautions. If you are posting your old pictures, make sure to post with the date and time stamp that says when and where the picture was clicked. 

Similarly, do not talk about the accident or your injuries online. You could post normal quotes on your profile, but anything beyond that should be done with the attorney’s advice only.