All-Star Great Article About Real Life Consequences For Social Media Choices

[amy1k]

Anonymous postings are are very small part of the problem. Kids (and adults) are posting things on social media AS THEMSELVES and causing great harm to their reputations along with their athletic and professional goals. I've shared before that my son lost his chance to play high school baseball his senior year after he chose to represent himself poorly on Twitter.

 

[mamabear]

I am shaking my head that you still seem to think that one can stay anonymous online. It was frightening how easy the FBI found out things about you, and your cousin and it only took about 5 minutes.

 

[12stepCheermom]

Anonymous postings are are very small part of the problem. Kids (and adults) are posting things on social media AS THEMSELVES and causing great harm to their reputations along with their athletic and professional goals. I've shared before that my son lost his chance to play high school baseball his senior year after he chose to represent himself poorly on Twitter.

That's something I had to work diligently at explaining to my cp's. The digital native seems to think freedom of speech equates to vomiting your every thought upon the Internet....and being completely taken aback and/or offended when people respond negatively.

And everyone seems to forget that freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences.


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[mstealtoyou]

Winner of the 2014 award for "Longest title of a thread" goes to...............

 

[dawgshow]

Thank you...thank you very much.

 

[CharlotteASMom]

Agree to disagree. It may be easy on here, but on sites like Facebook, Twitter, it can be pretty hard. Especially if the person isn't listening exactly where they're from, no real photo's, no real name....... and so on. It will take a long investigation for that. Maybe not too long, but its definitely not a 1, 2, 3, "found you" type thing.

Nothing is anonymous, as the 22 year old that made threats to shoot up my kid's school on the "anonymous" site Yik Yak discovered when the police showed up at his door.

 

[amy1k]

Some parents and athletes have used this as a reason to stay off social media entirely, but (purely observational) I feel like coaches WANT potential athletes out there. It seems like they want to see these kids and how they present themselves to the world. My youngest son has tried to remain hard to find, but he recently had a college coach follow him on Instagram (he has an unused account there and hasn't attempted to hide it). His dad and I are working on convincing him to use social media as a tool to make himself look more desirable to coaches.

 

[njallday]

Some parents and athletes have used this as a reason to stay off social media entirely, but (purely observational) I feel like coaches WANT potential athletes out there. It seems like they want to see these kids and how they present themselves to the world. My youngest son has tried to remain hard to find, but he recently had a college coach follow him on Instagram (he has an unused account there and hasn't attempted to hide it). His dad and I are working on convincing him to use social media as a tool to make himself look more desirable to coaches.

reminds me of my senior year of high school (07-08 - so social media wasn't nearly as big) - our teachers gave us all lectures about social media and applying to college so a group of my guy friends all uploaded pictures of themselves reading as their profile pictures. one had his friend follow him around browsing the library and uploaded an entire album, complete with fake glasses and his "thinking face." it was funny. but we were innocent babies compared to what kids do now and share with the world.

also, random side note: if you have a high school senior or you are one and you're super excited that you got into college and want to post your acceptance letters to social media, that's great! but blur out your home address, email address, full first, middle & last name, and all of your new school info. I now know everything about you and can hack into your new school email and/or online portal and mess with a lot of things if i felt like it (i don't.) every school i've gone to has told us to treat those ID numbers like our SSN. just be careful. :) and that's my random PSA of the day.

 

[NJ Coach]

That's something I had to work diligently at explaining to my cp's. The digital native seems to think freedom of speech equates to vomiting your every thought upon the Internet....and being completely taken aback and/or offended when people respond negatively.

And everyone seems to forget that freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This

 

[amy1k]

Literally just had a discussion with my kid about how his close friends BLOCKING me on Twitter, makes them appear to be hiding stuff. Seriously, though. *side eye* Because I'm totally able to access their accounts via other means. I'm not an idiot.

 

[Official OWECheer]

I am shaking my head that you still seem to think that one can stay anonymous online. It was frightening how easy the FBI found out things about you, and your cousin and it only took about 5 minutes.

Thought you were talking about the real FBI for a sec... lol.

 

[FlexyTumblerMom]

I guess my liberal side is coming out when I think about that situation described in the article - I personally think it's a little harsh to hold the tweets of a minor child against them when it comes to something life changing like a college scholarship (teach the kid not to do stuff like that if they are on your team, don't just completely write them off when they are a solid athlete). Plus online postings can be so easily misunderstood/misinterpreted.

A grown adult looking for a teaching or coaching job w/ all kinds of photos of them drinking, partying and cursing I understand, but I don't know if it sits too well w/ me that a 16 year old kid could be blacklisted by colleges over a tweet. These are typed words on a cell phone or computer, not crimes.

So a kid could commit an actual crime and have a sealed record cause they are a juvenile and that can be kept private, but a bad tweet can be held against them? Plus in the case of real criminal activity you have a right to an attorney, are inncocent until proven guilty, etc., but someone misinterprets your intentions online, or maybe even impersonates your account, and you have no defense? A college sees that and just drops you from their recruiting list w/o giving you a chance to defend yourself?

Recently my son had to debate about "the right to be forgotten" for his forensics team, meaning whether or not a person had the right to get questionable material about them removed from the Internet. It's kind of an interesting thing to think about - especially when it pertains to minors.

I do understand that people need to be careful, but I think our society is taking it a little too far if 16, 17 year old kids' lives are being ruined over tweets.

 

[dawgshow]

I don't think that A bad tweet would discount anyone. A history of bad choices? That could go towards character, which is a HUGE consideration for many scholarships and job offers.

 

[kristenthegreat]

I guess my liberal side is coming out when I think about that situation described in the article - I personally think it's a little harsh to hold the tweets of a minor child against them when it comes to something life changing like a college scholarship (teach the kid not to do stuff like that if they are on your team, don't just completely write them off when they are a solid athlete). Plus online postings can be so easily misunderstood/misinterpreted.

A grown adult looking for a teaching or coaching job w/ all kinds of photos of them drinking, partying and cursing I understand, but I don't know if it sits too well w/ me that a 16 year old kid could be blacklisted by colleges over a tweet. These are typed words on a cell phone or computer, not crimes.

So a kid could commit an actual crime and have a sealed record cause they are a juvenile and that can be kept private, but a bad tweet can be held against them? Plus in the case of real criminal activity you have a right to an attorney, are inncocent until proven guilty, etc., but someone misinterprets your intentions online, or maybe even impersonates your account, and you have no defense? A college sees that and just drops you from their recruiting list w/o giving you a chance to defend yourself?

Recently my son had to debate about "the right to be forgotten" for his forensics team, meaning whether or not a person had the right to get questionable material about them removed from the Internet. It's kind of an interesting thing to think about - especially when it pertains to minors.

I do understand that people need to be careful, but I think our society is taking it a little too far if 16, 17 year old kids' lives are being ruined over tweets.

While I understand where you're going- in these cases it's not something like 'I ****** hate school, so boring' or something. If it's a constant barrage of negativity, expletives, racism, sexism, drunkenness, and other such stuff (My sister once got on my brother about a rap he wrote that he posted online. Great lyrical flow- WAY too inappropriate for public viewing), then yeah- I'd be cautious about inviting someone into a high-profile position if they've got a volatile voice.

I found a Cheer Gossip tumblr's identity in the space of 5 minutes. Found her twitter, her facebook, her real name address and phone number. She likes red bull.

@Eyes On The Prize - part of the reason I mention 'Brand You', is because I've just spent the last 2 weeks on an acting business class. The main focus is how to make 'Brand KristentheGreat' cohesive across all platforms, postings, life, etc. It's SO applicable to other businesses and life. People will ALWAYS remember the way you make them feel- and if it's negative, they REALLY remember.

 

[amy1k]

I don't think it's likely that a life will be ruined, but in my son's case, one tweet caused him athletic suspension his senior year. That didn't ruin his life at all, and he wasn't going to play in college anyway. Under different circumstances, he could have lost a chance to play in college.