The Highlight Reel

The Highlight Reel: Social Posts Need Context

A birthday smile becomes Tom's entire account of someone's recovery. The scene illustrates an incomplete inference, not a rule that social media never matters. Posts, photographs, and activity descriptions can help or hurt a claim depending on what they actually show.

Explain the moment accurately

Identify when the photograph was taken, what activity occurred, and what limitations existed. Distinguish the date of an old photograph from the date someone posted it. A smile does not record an entire day, but a genuine inconsistency deserves an honest explanation. Do not invent missing context or claim you could never perform an activity that you did perform.

Preserve relevant material

Arizona Civil Rule 37(g) requires reasonable preservation of relevant electronic information when litigation begins or is reasonably anticipated under the rule. Deleting an uncomfortable post can create a separate evidence problem. Preserve the full post, dates, comments, and available original files, and ask counsel about account exports and automatic deletion settings.

Keep recovery records consistent

Describe activities to your medical provider in the same careful way you describe them in a claim. Record improvements and setbacks without staging either. If a post was inaccurate or joking, preserve it and discuss how to explain it rather than quietly rewriting the record. Changing who can see a post does not answer whether relevant information must be preserved or disclosed.

Questions this episode raises

Does smiling in a photograph disprove pain?

No single expression supplies a medical assessment. The photograph may still be relevant to an activity or another factual statement, so explain its context truthfully.

Should I delete my social media after making a claim?

Do not delete potentially relevant material to keep it from being reviewed. Get advice about preservation before deleting posts, closing accounts, or allowing automatic deletion.