By Mallory Hisler
Reporter
I can’t even look at my news feed on Facebook anymore. It is riddled with catfights between girls that I went to high school with, over topics that I have long since quit trying to figure out.
Not to mention the alarming number of boys who are freshly graduated from high school talking about their excitement at “grabbing a cold one” and “getting wasted with the bros.”
It is worrisome the lack of privacy that some of today’s social media users want. Posting every detail about their lives seems quite normal to many, while using their profile as a soapbox to talk about how much they hate work is equally acceptable for others.
This unfiltered type of openness cannot be beneficial. Surely they know that once you post something online – it’s out there.
Future employers who might use the Internet to find out about a person they are interested in hiring probably wouldn’t be too keen on hiring someone who makes a post about ditching work for shopping or a game. Odds are, there are probably a lot of things they would not want to see on a prospective hire’s Facebook or Twitter account.
Yet, is this what someone really thinks when they’re posting a rant about someone or suggestive pictures of themselves?
What about the increasing presence of police authorities online? It’s not hard to figure out that someone is underage, even if they do not post their age on their profile.
When someone makes a post about going to another person’s house to party, doesn’t it make it that much more likely for that party to have some unexpected attendees – namely the police?
The point I guess I am trying to make is you should care about the message that you send to others. Not that you need to create a front or not be yourself – quite the opposite, in fact.
I just wish people would take it upon themselves think about their post for at least a full minute before putting it on the Internet.
Ask yourself, “Could this potentially affect my future negatively?” If you still feel that you need to post it, I suppose the best thing to do is go ahead.
Unfortunately, most people do not think about what they are going to publish online; they just do it. To those that just don’t want to think before posting, I propose making their account as private as possible.
Perception is reality for many people, and it just doesn’t make sense to give someone the opportunity to think poorly of you because of what you post online.
Mallory Hisler is a senior journalism major from Anahuac and is a reporter for the Lariat.