5월 11일 과제

Social Media is Like a Tattoo

It’s fair to say that the generation who are just starting Secondary School are facing a world that will forever be connected to the internet, forever looking anything up that they wish.

But from now, all the way through to the time that they retire, they will be involved in Social Media, posting videos, liking pages, tweeting for perhaps 60 to 70 years. That amount of information is amazing. It’s virtually a whole life that is reflected on the internet. It’s a second life.

However, just imagine your outlook from when you were 15 to 30 to 45. A lot of things can change. A lot of things that you like and believe in could be completely different. But therein lies the problem – if it’s all recorded on Social Media, it’s there, indelibly marking you out.

How many times have you scrolled back on your Facebook to 2007? The pictures you posted, the links you clumsily added, and not knowing whether you were mailing or posting on walls. It all looks a bit amateur. But then things were new and you were young. Can you be forgiven for being young?

Well that’s a good question isn’t it, and goes back to my tattoo analogy. The permanent mark on your record, for schools, work and relationships may hinder you in your life at some point.

But is that fair? Isn’t the internet about free speech and being able to say what you want? Well no. As more and more people become switched on and connected everyone will just have to conform to sociological norms and not treat Social Media like it is now, more like an online CV that spans the whole of your life.