Social media has become an integral part of society, especially for high school students.
According to a Pew survey taken in 2014/2015, 94 percent of teens who go online with a mobile device, do so daily.
Photo by: Sarah Clench
Moreover, 71 percent of teens use multiple social media platforms, where they post pictures, videos, and statements related to their daily lives and ideas. These platforms include Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and many others.
Snapchat and Instagram both have a feature called a ‘story’. A ‘story’ can have a picture or video which remains posted for 24 hours and then ‘disappears’.
The risk with this is that the story can be seen by all of the person’s ‘friends’ or followers for those 24 hours and can be saved and redistributed for various purposes.
One’s ‘friends’ or followers could potentially screenshot or record one’s story from another device, changing the intended 24 hour lifespan of the post to being permanent.
Another thing that seems to worry parents and teens about social media is the risk of user’s personal information getting into the hands of someone who wasn’t intended to have it.
Such an incident occurred after the Ventura vs. Buena varsity football game on Friday, October 13. After Ventura’s victory, some football players and other VHS students celebrated by drinking alcohol out of the winning trophy at a party.
We only know this because there were videos of them drinking out of the trophy posted on a couple of their Snapchat stories. According to VHS principal Carlos Cohen, “VHS coaches and administrators were sent videos of the incident from a variety of sources,” some of which prefered to remain anonymous.
When asked what jurisdiction the school has to punish students for off-campus activities, assistant principal, Charles Cornwell, stated, “It can be something that happened outside of the school setting, but if it affects the school itself, then that’s when we have the jurisdiction.”
He went on to give his opinions on the videos in question, stating, “Initially, I dont think it was meant to be out to the whole world, but some people got caught because of it.”
So now we’re presented with the question, “Are teens truly aware of the risks that social media poses? And if so, why do they continue to post on social media?”
When asked what risks he believes social media creates, junior Hayden Ijames stated, “Cyber bullying and the risk of [exposing] something you don’t want to be exposed.”
However Ijames also mentioned that despite these risks, teens still participate in social media “to stay with everyone else.”
