Exploration of the sometimes unexpected side affects social media can have in our lives

1. S O C I A L M E D I A
T H E P O I S O N E D A P P L E

2. Social Media has become an
incredible tool in the modern age,
with a multitude of uses.

3. You can stay in touch with friends and
family regularly, even from great
distances.

4. You can stay current on world events and important news stories (though, a
thorough vetting should be used in this context). “Facebook and Google
have promised to crack down on misinformation, although they have been
criticised for failing to accept their place in its spread. These include working
with independent fact-checking organisations and labelling suspicious
stories as such.”[4]

5. You can find niche communities for hobbies, arts,
intellectual interests, and more.

6. Additionally, more recently
social media has also
become a tool for social
activism and political
discussion.
“Recent studies have shown
a positive link between
frequency of social media use
and political participation.”
- Sebastian Valenzuela[14]

7. In all the aforementioned positive effects of social
media however, there can be a tendency for
individuals to share too much with friends and
family, or to become overly emotionally involved in
provocative discussions which can often lead
individuals to stating charged or defamatory
comments in support of their own viewpoints.
These tendencies can have unexpected
consequences for your future.

8. What goes on the internet, stays on the internet.
”Web sites like LOL Facebook Moments, which
collects and shares embarrassing personal
revelations from Facebook users, ill-advised
photos and online chatter are coming back to
haunt people months or years after the fact.”
– Jeffrey Rosen[9]

9. There have been many obvious examples of
how social media use, or social media response
(which can be a response to public comments
made through conventional televised/public
media), can ruin a person’s reputation and cost
them their job.
Justine Sacco, PR
executive fired over
racist tweet, ‘ashamed’
Justine Sacco, former IAC employee, issues
apology to ‘millions of people living with the
virus' after social media erupted
Lahren was previously
suspended for the
pro-choice comments
she made on 'The View.'
These instances demonstrate the immediate
repercussions social media use and social
media reaction can have (particularly for
extreme words or views), but it doesn’t end
there. Posts made by individuals from years in
the past can come back and haunt individuals,
sometimes for seemingly innocent acts.
[8]
[7]
[8]
[7]

10. “[In 2006], Stacy Snyder…posted a photo on her MySpace page that showed
her [drinking at a party]. [Her] supervisor at the high school told her the
photo was “unprofessional”…[and as] a result, days before Snyder’s
scheduled graduation, the university denied her a teaching degree.”
– Jeffrey Rosen[9]

11. These sensationalized cases
(which received significant
public attention) are not,
however, the only source of
worry for personal use of
social media today. Social
media profiled can be used to
vet applicants in the
workforce, post-secondary
education, and even
relationships.

12. T H E J O B M A R K E T

13. ”60 percent of employers
now turn to social networks to
research job applicants”
Hiring managers in information technology and sales
are the most likely to use social networks to screen
candidates; professional and business services were
least likely.
• IT: 76 percent
• Sales: 65 percent
• Financial services: 61 percent
• Health care: 59 percent
• Retail: 59 percent
• Manufacturing: 56 percent
• Professional and business services: 55 percent
- L. Nikravan[6]
[3]

14. Not only do employers vet incoming applicants in this
manner, there are dozens of examples of employees losing
their job from social media use that don’t make the
newspapers – one only needs to consult various
online forums or surveys to see who and how
people lost their job (some accounts even
containing specific companies who did the firing).

15. Moreover, not only are employers using social
media to vet incoming applicants, and keep their
current employed staff in line, there is even a
percentage of businesses that are seeking out new
applicants through social media exclusively.
“Fed up with traditional recruiting sites and floods of irrelevant résumés,
some recruiters are turning to the social network to post jobs, hunt for
candidates and research applicants”
– Silverman and Weber[11]

16. P O S T- S E C O N D A RY
I N S T I T U T I O N S

17. “Kaplan Test Prep’s most recent survey of nearly
400 college admissions officers across the
United States finds that the percentage of
admissions officers who visit applicants’ social
media pages to learn more about them has hit
a record high of 40%”[5]

18. Even if your overall GPA is competitive and attractive to
prospective post-secondary institutions, there is a chance that
negative social media use or reputation could affect your
ability to gain acceptance into institutions.
“''It was incredibly unusual and foolish of her to do that,''
Scott A. Meiklejohn, Bowdoin's dean of admissions and financial
aid, told me last week. The college ultimately denied the student
admission, he said, because her academic record wasn't
competitive. But had her credentials been better, those indiscreet
posts could have scuttled her chances.”
– Natasha Singer[12]

19. R E L AT I O N S H I P S

20. There are a number of online dating services, from
full and detailed services such as eHarmony to
short quick services such as Tinder. There is a
reported “38 percent of contemporary American
singles looking for love online”
– Rebecca Adams[1]

21. One of the dangers Adams identifies with online
forms of dating services is that people can learn to
treat potential partners as commodities, scrolling
through profiles as they would appliances or
consumables searching for increasingly narrow
criteria to try and find their “perfect match”.
– Rebecca Adams[1]

22. Nicole Weaver discusses how social media profiles
and accounts such as Facebook has introduced a
new form of infidelity she calls digital infidelity,
where much of that concept is derived through the
idea of emotional infidelity but is pursued across
social media platforms.[13]
Additionally, there have
been numerous examples of relationships, either
long-term or short-term, either ending or being
negatively affected through a partner’s searching
of their companions social media accounts.

23. These 3 sides of life (Employment,
Academia, Relationships) can indeed
be so affected by social media use
(in both positive and negative ways
depending on one’s usage), that a
whole new sector of advice-
columnists or bloggers have sprung
up with methods on optimizing one’s
use of social media to achieve and
maintain a positive reputation and
personal success. Suzanne Bowness,
for instance, wrote an article in The
Globe and Mail in 2011 on how best
to use social media in your search for
employment.[2]

24. Social media can have both positive and negative
affects on one’s life. The only rule of thumb one
should observe is that anything you say online can
come back to you with effects later in life. Always
remember what you say online remains forever. As
said by David Siesage from The Independent:
“The internet never forgets”[10]

25. R E F E R E N C E S
[1] Adams, Rebecca. “7 Drawbacks Of Online Dating, According To Science”. Huffington Post. N.p., 2015. Web.
13 June 2017.
[2] Bowness, Suzanne, and Special to The Globe and Mail. “Making The Most Of Social Media”. The Globe and
Mail. N.p., 2013. Web. 13 June 2017
[3] Brooks, Chad. “Social Screening: What Hiring Managers Look For On Social Media”. Business News Daily. N.p.,
2016. 12 June 2017.
[4] Carson, James. “What Is Fake News? Its Origins And How It Grew In 2016”. The Telegraph. N.p., 2017. Web.
13 June 2017.
[5] “Kaplan Test Prep Survey: College Admissions Officers Say Social Media Increasingly Affects Applicants’
Chances”. Kaptest N.p. 2017. Web. 12 June 2017.
[6] Nikravan, L. “Number Of Employers Using Social Media To Screen Candidates Has Increased 500 Percent
Over The Last Decade”. Career Builder. N.p., 2016. Web. 13 June 2017.
[7] Pilkington, Ed. “Justine Sacco, PR Executive Fired Over Racist Tweet, ’Ashamed’”. The Guardian. N.p., 2013.
Web. 12 June 2017.
[8] Rahman, Abid. “Conservative Star Tomi Lahren “Banned Permanently” From The Blaze (Report)”.
The Hollywood Reporter. N.p., 2017. Web. 12 June 2017.
[9]Rosen, Jeffrey. “The Web Means The End of Forgetting”. The New York Times. N.p., 2010. Web. 12 June 2017

26. R E F E R E N C E S
[10] Siesage, David. “The Internet Never Forgets So Be Careful What You Put On It”. The Independent. N.p., 2013.
Web. 12 June 2017
[11] Silverman, Rachel, and Lauren Weber. “The New Resume: It’s 140 Characters; Some Recruiters, Job Seekers,
Turn To Twitter, But Format Is A Challenge; Six-Second Video Goes Viral”. Wall Street Journal. N.p.,
2013. Print.
[12] Singer, Natasha. “They Loved Your G.P.A. Then They Saw Your Tweets”. The New York Times. N.p., 2013. Print.
[13] Weaver, Nicole. “7 Proven Ways Facebook Is Destroying Your Relationship”. Your Tango. N.p. Web.
12 June 2017.
[14] Valenzuela, Sebastian. “Unpacking The Use Of Social Media For Protest Behavior.” American Behavioral
Scientist, 2013, Vol. 57, No. 7, p. 920-942. Web. 13 June 2017.