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Prompt: Write a typed essay 800-1000 words on the following topic: the Dangers of SocialMedia: How Social Media can impact your reputation, your future, and even lead tocriminal charges.With the rapid development and spread of technology, social media hasseemingly engulfed the world. By simply using a phone or computer to create a socialmedia account, everyone has the capability to post their thoughts online for the wholeworld to see. However, this simplicity has led to recklessness for many users, and insome cases, that recklessness has dire consequences. Alicia Ann Lynch faced the wrathof the Internet firsthand when she dressed as a survivor of the Boston Marathonbombings for Halloween and decided to post the costume on Twitter and Instagram.Soon, survivors of the bombings were calling her out, saying that she “‘should beashamed’” and “‘needed a filter’”. Others were harsher, as they said she “deserved to beraped” and threatened to “‘slit her throat’” as well as her parents’ (Giacobbe). Theconsequences did not stop there though. Her manager at work was notified about thepost, and she was fired from her job the next month. Lynch has since apologized for herHalloween costume and has claimed that she even discussed the costume with asurvivor whom she knew. However, the damage to her reputation had already beendone, with the top searches on Google criticizing her choice of costume as well as hercharacter. Alicia’s story is one of many unfortunate examples of social media’s profoundreach, and new cases arise each day.There is no doubt that the number of smartphone and social media users isincreasing every day. In the United States, 69% of adults actively use at least one socialmedia platform, and the average number of accounts per person is 7.1 (Newberry).Teens and young adults are the most likely to use social media, with 81% using socialmedia according to Benjamin Herold of Education Week. Facebook, Twitter, YouTubeand Instagram are several of the most popular platforms, and the majority of users visitthe platforms multiple times a day (Perrin). With hundreds of millions of users on all ofthese websites, there is no shortage of audience to scrutinize and opine oncontroversial posts. The most common way for users to damage their future and
reputation is to post inappropriate content. What a user may fail to understand in thiscase is that many other users do not know him/her, so the post may be one of only afew posts that other users can use to assume his/her personality. Other users will notknow if an offensive post is meant as a joke. Furthermore, if an offensive post is sharedenough times, the user’s personal or professional lives may be impacted. For example,they could be suspended from school or subject to intense criticism from their friendsand family. Sometimes, users may overshare on social media. While the information isusually harmless, there have been cases where the user may give out confidentialknowledge. This can lead to court cases as well as significant fines if the breach issevere enough. An indirect way that social media may harm someone is if other usersspread lies and unfair insults about him/her. Although this might not result from theuser’s mistake, this is still a way that social media can impact the reputation of anindividual. Finally, social media has the capability to ruin lives by damaging users’health. Although it is not usual, social media addiction does exist. According topsychological journal Cyberpsychology, social media addiction can negatively affect theuser’s mental health as well as academic performance.The clearest way to see the effects of posts on social media is through examples.One high-profile story regarding social media occurred recently in the academic world.Kyle Kashuv, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, is awell-known supporter of gun rights whose views vastly differed from many of hispeers. Thus, he became a celebrity for the pro-gun movement. His accomplishments inpolitics as well as his exceptional academics gained him admission into HarvardUniversity. However, in May 2019, a series of Google Docs and text messages fromwhen he was sixteen came back to haunt Kashuv. In these, Kashuv had used racistlanguage and described a fellow African-American student in condescending way.Kashuv ultimately paid the price for his behavior, as Harvard decided to rescind hisacceptance and organizations quickly cut ties with him (Beauchamp). In anotherexample, a college student named Dana Snay posted about her parent’s court victoryagainst Gulliver Prep in Miami. However, this post violated the confidentiality
agreement in the case, and her family ended up paying 80,000 to the school(Giacobbe). Social media played a crucial position in a court case now known as Largentv. Reed. The plaintiff sued the defendants for physical and mental trauma from a recentaccident. However, the defendants believed that the plaintiff had been posting statusupdates on Facebook that she had been able to go to the gym. Thus, she was forced tohand over her Facebook login information (Meyer). Social media posts have also led toarrests and criminal charges. A 19-year-old Florida man named Depress Johnsonposted Instagram photos with guns, cash, and other dangerous substances. Eventually,police found his account and raided his home, where they found around 250,000worth of stolen goods (Taylor). Each of these examples illustrates the seriousimplications and responsibilities that many people take for granted when they usesocial media.Social media has expanded and updated to a point where many users cannotpossibly keep track of the people who have access to their posts. As a result, oneinappropriate post or comment has the potential to cause a flurry of outbursts andother verbal attacks. It is important for users to learn from the mistakes of others in thepast. A careful online presence may prevent a lifetime of regret.
Works CitedBeauchamp, Zack. "The Kyle Kashuv-Harvard controversy, explained." Vox, Vox Media, 17June 2019, /kyle-kashuv-harvardparkland. Accessed 4 Aug. 2019.Herold, Benjamin. "Teen Social Media Use Is Skyrocketing. But Don't Panic, New ResearchSays." Digital Education, Editorial Projects in Education, 10 Sept. /09/teen social media skyrocketing.html. Accessed 4 Aug. 2019.Hou, Yubo, et al. Social media addiction: Its impact, mediation, and intervention.Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 2019.Cyberpsychology, cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/11562/10373. Accessed 4 Aug. 2019.Meyer, Eric. "Your Employees' 'Private' Facebook Posts Are Not Private." Lexis Nexis, 23 Nov.2011, uot-private-quot-facebook-posts-are-not-private. Accessed4 Aug. 2019.Newberry, Christina. "130 Social Media Statistics that Matter to Marketers in 2019." Hootsuite,5 Mar. 2019, ial-media-managers/.Accessed 4 Aug. 2019.Perrin, Andrew, and Monica Anderson. "Share of U.S. adults using social media, includingFacebook, is mostly unchanged since 2018." Fact Tank, Pew Research Center, 10 Apr.2019, -mostly-unchanged-since-2018/. Accessed 4 Aug. 2019.*Canva was used to create the cover page.
Taylor, Victoria. "Florida man's Instagram photos lead to 142 felony charges." NY Daily News,14 Dec. 2013, -142-felonycharges-article-1.1547932. Accessed 4 Aug. 2019.
Prompt: Write a typed essay 800-1000 words on the following topic: the Dangers of Social Media: How Social Media can impact your reputation, your future, and even lead to criminal charges. With the rapid development and spread of technology, social media has seemingly engulfed the world. By simply using a phone or computer to create a social
