If there was ever a reason to think twice about posting something potentially inflammatory on a social network, then this must surely be a contender.

The argument for a more secure private network has taken a turn for the bizarre, after a father in the United States took his .45 to his 15-year-old daughter’s laptop, after she had posted on Facebook complaining about her household chores. She’d actually tried to hide post from her parents by using Facebook’s privacy settings, but this didn’t stop her father – who is an IT worker – from seeing the update. Strangely enough, this wasn’t an a heat of the moment impulse reaction or a blind fit of rage – Tommy Jordan sat down in front of his camera, went on for around 7 minutes about the posts on Facebook, then stood up and calmly emptied a clip into his daughter’s laptop.

An over-reaction? Quite possibly. However, it does go to show that generally speaking you shouldn’t air dirty laundry in public. I don’t believe for one second that when she posted these updates, that she could have imagined this outcome. Often people will say something out of frustration or to get some sympathy from friends, but I highly doubt ‘Dad shoots laptop‘ crossed her mind as a potential result of her little outburst.