Imagine this: an underage student is drinking an alcoholic beverage.
They are already putting themselves at risk. Then, another student takes out a phone and presses record.
Not only is it recorded, but then it gets posted on social media for the world to see.
Why in the world would students ever think that’s a good idea? Is the harm that could come from this not evident enough?
Students probably think, “Oh well, it’s harmless. No one will turn me in or say anything. It’s the ‘norm,’ for everybody to post videos like this.”
However, there is a factor that most students don’t take into consideration; rivalry.
Mostly everyone has rivals, but what are the chances one’s rival will see this video? Probably more likely than expected.
What if one’s rival took things to an extreme and sent it to someone that could get the student in trouble, whether it be at home or at school.

Depending of the degree of the punishment, one might be miserable.
It’s a shame, because the whole situation could have been avoided if the person recording would have taken a step back and thought about the consequences of what they were about to do.
Even if the person did take the video, maybe he/she would have at least had the decency to not post it on social media.
Ventura High School students have been victims of this scenario.
Students were so ecstatic about keeping the trophy, that some decided to have some illegal fun with it.
What many students didn’t consider when pulling out their phones to record the illegal activities though, is that even if the student has no rival, all VHS students have one huge, freshly jealous, common rival, lurking just around the corner and watching with an attentive eye for any opportunity to try and ruin VHS students.
Not that VHS students could ever be ruined by rivals, but it’s evident that rivals will try really hard with overbearing desperation and without even second thinking their decisions.
Photo by: Liliana Lara
So my advice would be for students to think twice next time when pulling out a phone to take a video of someone doing something that could potentially lead to punishment for that person.
Students may also want to think twice before making the decision to do something that they could be punished for themselves.
As Aguilar puts it, “It’s very risky, especially if you’re like an athlete, [when] you get caught doing stuff like that then you’re just like screwed.”
There’s plenty of snakes in the grass and if one’s not careful, they could get bit.