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Tommy Pernetti
English
Mr. Samarro
2/29/16
Research Paper
Will Social Media have a Negative Affect on your Future?

Social media can affect your future when used inappropriately

and irresponsibly. Some people will write vulgar or offensive
comments and display inappropriate photos or images. How you
decide to carry yourself on social media can damage your social life
and academic career. The decisions you make can impact your whole
life. What you choose to post or comment on describes your
personality and character in a variety of ways to the outside world that
may or may not hurt your future,
When a person signs up for social media they need to keep in
mind that they should be very careful about what they post. If they
post inappropriate things it is possible that it may haunt them later in
life especially if trying to find a job. Most companies will do background
checks on potential new candidates. What companies look for is
whether or not you many have been in trouble with the law. They look
at the type content that you may post online to see if there is anything
that may be a conflict of interest within their organization. They review

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your comments and behaviors on what subject matter you may be
interested in. Bosses continuously are looking at their future
employees accounts on various social networks to see the type of
employee they may be hiring (University of Georgia). This quote is
relevant because it shows how the companies look at your social
media files to see how future and current employees conduct
themselves outside of the workplace. Social media can affect your
future in many different ways, but overall it smart to use it responsibly
with an awareness of how they convey themselves and their character.
An image that was shared on social media of a Taco Bell employee
licking a stack of taco shells once again demonstrated the unintended
-- but probably not unforeseeable -- side effects of social media (CNN).
This article on CNN demonstrates what can happen when you post
something absurd in real life how it can ultimately be life changing. In
this case, the Taco Bell guy gets fired. The trickle down effect also falls
on the reputation of the company, Taco Bell. The public sees this image
and the public believes that Taco Bell is unsanitary. Therefore hurting
the overall image of Taco Bell and what they personify.
Posting inappropriate pictures or comments on social media, can
hurt your future with a potential school that you may be interested in
attending. Schools look for pretty much the same as what companies
look for when someone is applying for a job. They both look at if you
have been in trouble with the law and they look to see what your

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typical pattern of behavior is on social media. Of 381 college
admissions officers who answered a Kaplan telephone questionnaire
this year, 31 percent said they had visited an applicants Facebook or
other personal social media page to learn more about them a fivepercentage-point increase from last year (New York Times). This
statistic is critical because it conveys how many officers looked at the
students social media accounts. This problem with a students digital
footprints is getting out of control and is becoming a huge problem.
More crucially for those trying to get into college, 30 percent of the
admissions officers said they had discovered information online that
had negatively affected an applicants prospects (New York Times).
This statistic shows how kids can be affected from social media. Social
media behaviors cannot be changed. What you put out there can
generally be found.
Social media can also ruin a persons life when you post things
that can hurtful to others and their personal life. If someone posts a
picture that is inappropriate or says something mean or hurtful on it.
Others will look at this person as being mean or disgusting. Poor
behavior will give you a bad reputation that will likely label you as
unsettling and not trustworthy. The Huffington Post states that social
media can cause bullying other students on what they post on social
media. Over 25 percent of adolescents and teens have been bullied
repeatedly through their cell phones or the Internet (Bullying

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Statistics). This stat provided shows that many teens are bullied
through cell phones, social media and the Internet. This affects the
victim being bullied causing them angst and insecurity. This pressure
can be so great that they can isolate themselves from friends and
family because they are afraid, depressed and feel alone that this is
happening. In severe situations it may cause the victim to hurt him or
herself or hide or become suicidal. A male student at Rutgers
University was recorded having a sexual interaction with another man
and it was posted on social media without his permission. A couple
days later this young man jumped off the George Washington Bridge
and lost his life. Social media can drastically change your life when not
used responsibly.
This online resource can devastate many peoples lives in
different ways. It can hurt a persons athletic career because if you post
a video or a picture involving drugs or alcohol you can lose your
starting job because the coaches can get a different prospective of who
that person actually is. Cleveland Browns own, Johnny Manziel was
affected many times by posting videos of him partying and drinking.
The first time he did it he lost his starting job and also entered into
rehab. After he got out of rehab he was caught again singing and
dancing while being intoxicated on social media. The team reported
later that week that they were done with him because they could not
handle his behavior. Manziels actions cost him to lose a starting job

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with a great football program. He also was waived off by the team at
the end of the season, and not to mention he lost a huge contract with
LRMR Management Company. Social media really affected this players
life in various different ways. In the spring of March 2015, an athlete
changed his username to something inappropriate to crack up her
friends. This girl was a top recruit for her sport and when a scout saw
on her social media page that her username was inappropriate he
stripped the scholarship away from her. This situation hurt this athlete
by taking away her scholarship to a top college. This story proves how
when someone puts the littlest thing on social media it can have a
negative outcome.
For some people their personal love life is the most important
part of their lives, but its been the case where on social media to have
put their relationships in jeopardy causing breakups, divorce and lack
of trust. Having a girlfriend or a boyfriend or whatever it is should
mean a lot to people, but if people display bad actions on social media
it can possibly create a situation where they lose that person,
girlfriend, wife, boyfriend, or husband in the future. For example, say a
guy is with a girl and then the guy is searching through his Instagram
and a girl wants to talk to him and meet him. If the girlfriend finds out
about the guys meeting or affair it can ruin their relationship. Another
common thing that happens when meeting someone on social media is
when those people break up one of those people are usually stalked

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and affected in the future. This girl named Jemma met a guy through
social media. At first they were perfectly fine but then the guy started
to talk about his 9/11 theories and the guy ended up being fanatical,
stalking this girl and keeping her up at night with phone calls. The guy
was eventually was arrested on many different charges. This is another
story where someone was affected negatively by social media. If
people go on to social media to find a date, they have to be careful
whom they are dealing with because they never know what that
person is like when they first meet him or her. For all they know it can
be a serial killer.
Cyber bullying is another negative affect from social media. As
mentioned briefly earlier may people are hurt from cyber bullying
everyday. This can greatly affect a persons future because it might
cause people to be suicidal or make them go into depression. Cyber
bullying causes a lot of other bad things too. This type of bullying can
also strip away your self confidence and self-image of yourself. By
simply making a negative comment or accusation against someone or
to make fun of someone can really be hurtful. Some people disable
their accounts on social media because they dont want to hear
anymore hate. For example, San Antonio Spurs Center, Lamarcus
Aldridge disabled his Twitter account after a bad game because he did
not want to hear any hate or blame for losing the game. Cyber bullying

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is known as on of the worst types of bullying, this type of bullying can
hurt so many lives.
Social media can have a negative affect on so many lives. Many
can be directly and indirectly hurt from actions taken on social media.
Sometimes what they post can come return later in their life to haunt
them when trying to get into a college, play a sport or find a job. What
is posted or commented on social media tells so much about the
character of someone. Whatever is posted on Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram or whatever it is will always be out there. Hitting the send
button, that one little action, can determine your future.

Works Cited

"Electronic Communication and Social Media - Advice to

Members." Electronic Communication and Social Media Advice to Members. ETFO, 2014. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.
http://www.etfo.ca/TermsofUse/Pages/default.aspx
"The Present and Future of Social Networking." The Present
and Future of Social Networking. Santa Clara University, 21
Jan. 2016. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/technology/socialnetworking.html

Jason Steinhauer. "Preserving Social Media for Future

Historians." Preserving Social Media for Future Historians.
N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.
https://blogs.loc.gov/kluge/2015/07/preserving-social-media-for-futurehistorians/

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