The Internet is Unforgiving

Take a second and think about the title of this blog. Can you remember something you may have posted when you first created a Facebook account (hello "OMG sooooooo excited to go to the movies xoxoxo <333" from 2009)? What about that crazy embarrassing photo of you your mom posted of you friends seem to find five years later?

Let's get more serious...think about all the stories of celebrity nudes or sex tapes getting released because they were somehow hacked or sent over Snapchat. There have been companies where employees accidentally tweeted inappropriate things on their accounts, quotes from politicians being brought up during this debate from months ago, and company reputations with PR campaigns going down the drain from public criticism. Truly, the Internet is unforgiving.

We recently had guest speaker Debra Bethard-Caplick speak to our social media strategies class at my university, and this is one of the main points that stuck with me. We are all too lenient these days with what we post on social media, especially my generation (Gen Z), and we continually see others face the consequences (yet think we're still untouchable ourselves).

Another key point she made related to this idea was: ”Somebody has to be the adult in the room and unfortunately too many people on social media are not."

Wow. Let that one sink in and just TRY to tell me it's not 100 percent accurate.

Even if you are not attempting to be "professional" on social media, it is ESSENTIAL to remember it is not made to be a platform of vulgarity, arguments, or post every area of your life for the entire world to have access to. Just because you may think marijuana should be legalized doesn't mean it's appropriate to post a picture of yourself smoking online.

Let me leave you with three things (LOOK HERE BEFORE YOU LEAVE) if you have zoned out for most of this blog:

1. The benefit and PROBLEM with social media is that it's instantaneous
2. Somebody has to be the adult in the room and unfortunately too many people on social media are not
3. THE INTERNET IS UNFORGIVING