“Internet footprint… blah blah blah… online bullying… blah blah blah…never goes away… blah blah blah”

It seems that every time a person over 25 tries to explain the need for “caution on the internet” it’s the same repeated statements over and over again. But at the end of the day, who’s really going to take advice from a person whose main means of social media is Facebook? It’s time to get real about social media use.

One of the main points made about the internet is that everything you do on it will be there forever. This isn’t difficult to disagree with because hardly any of us truly know just how the internet works. However, the scenario of what we post today following us until we’re 40-years-old does seem a bit unreasonable. Or does it? How likely is it really that my future employer finds my anonymous finsta page and decides she doesn’t want me working for her anymore? It is a lot more likely than you’d think. With technology advancing daily, there’s no way to truly feel secure in your anonymity. It’s likely that in 40 years all it will take is a scan of your eye for a super computer the size of a nickel to identify who you are and completely analyze your entire history on the internet. All in all, it’s in your best interest to keep rude, racist, homophobic, or risky comments to yourself, not only for your sake, but also others.

Not only is it important to watch what you say, you should also be tentative about what you share and save. Simply re-posting or retweeting an explicit image or comment is just as bad as spreading rumors and may come back and reflect terribly on you. Additionally, if you see something hateful or inappropriate posted about a person, the most important thing you can do is notify the person that the post is about so that they are aware of what is being said. However, it’s not recommended to get involved in whatever has transpired between the two people.

We are able to laugh at some things on the internet and enjoy while other things are less pleasant. Your presence on social media is important and there’s so much good you can do with it. Start an activist page for something you feel strongly about, spread positivity with kind comments, share your art with the world. Help make the internet a safe place.