By Emily Brooks
3:00, Friday afternoon. Students are freed from Northwood High School with a weekend of endless possibilities awaiting them.
I get on Facebook that Friday night, only to see that many of my Facebook friends, mostly underclassmen, are posting about how they are going to be “slizzard,” “hammered” and most commonly, “flying high” by the end of the night.
I have no respect for anyone who finds it necessary to publicize to the world how they are going to go do these things. Honestly, most people do not care about your screwing up your high school years, getting caught by the cops and getting charged with underage drinking or possession. This younger crowd getting involved does not seem to understand the effects that their actions can cause. If you aren’t old enough to drive a car, you shouldn’t be opening a bottle of liquor.
I realize that the majority of Northwood students think that it is “cool” to smoke and drink as a freshman or sophomore in high school. I have seen countless tweets, Facebook statuses, wall posts and pictures explaining and showing the world about what went down on the weekend.
If you robbed a bank, you wouldn’t set your Facebook status as “Just made some quick cash after robbing the BB&T.” The same goes for underage drinking and smoking marijuana. Don’t share with the world that you just broke the law.
Students need to understand that once they post something on the Internet, it is available for anyone to see, whether or not their Facebook and Twitter accounts are set on private. Believe it or not, 38 percent of colleges and universities say that what they see from these social networks negatively affect their views of the applicant. In a 2011 survey of 359 admissions officers from top colleges in the U.S, 20 percent of them said they Googled applicants.
Thomas Griffin, director of undergraduate admissions at NC State told the Wall Street Journal that “the school will do an Internet search, including Facebook and other sites, if an application raises ‘red flags’ such as a suspension from school; we have to use this information to make the best decision for the university.”
Not to mention, when applying for a job, many bosses look at social networking sites as well.
Tim DeMello, owner of the company Ziggs, told CBS News that 20 percent of companies are secretly scanning online profiles before they interview applicants.
All in all, I don’t want to have my news feed blown up all the time about people being foolish. It’s like what many of you have heard from your relatives: don’t share anything that you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see.