Education: How It Affects Social Media Behavior

Nowadays, the advancement of technology has brought us to a limitless extent of information and social interaction especially in social media. Not only interacting with family and friends but also most people use their social media to share and post their interests to the internet. Those posts could be useful for other users but others could be harmful even for the person who posts them. And it is certainly determined by the level of education that we have that also reflects our behaviour on social media. We could not neglect that our privilege as someone who is exposed to education creates awareness towards how we act on social media. (Ulfah)

We’ve all heard about Uncle Ben’s quote “With great power comes great responsibility” that has become Spider-Man’s life motto. I believe that we as someone with easy access to education needs to take responsibility in what we post on social media. Thinking before posting, being conscious of what information we give out, knowing the internet terms such as ‘cookies’ and ‘cache’ are just a few things to put in mind before surfing the net. Teens tend to overshare on the internet not knowing the risk of it could be a potential danger to themselves, leaving digital footprints here and there. Little things like this often to be overlooked for the sense of existence on social media. Information such as weekend plans, where you live, and even opinions on miscellaneous things are being shared online where tons of other users that could use these data to their likings. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve deleted the post or whether it only lasts 24 hour on the story, these things stay on the internet as soon as you put it up there. Moreover, it’s not possible to leave zero digital footprints but while lots of employers and universities admit to looking up applicants online, it’s better to have a positive digital presence than none at all. (Amanda)

Even though most of the people have a pretty good education, some people still act indecently on social media. As an example, the Instagram influencer named awkarin has recently created controversy because she frequently takes posts from Pinterest and reposted it on her Instagram account without giving credit to the creator. As a result, a local creator of the post reprimanded awkarin because she had violated copyright, but the local creator was sued and threatened by awkarin. Awkarin also did the same thing to foreign post creators but after being reprimanded by the creator she apologized, she treats the local creator differently than the foreign creator. (Kharisma)

In conclusion, social media, as a platform that caters to a wide audience, is a place where we need to educate ourselves constantly to spread awareness on being cautious on social media. Especially, towards those who are not privileged enough to have the knowledge about how the internet actually works. Considering that there are still a lot of influencers and public figures that act indecently on social media even though they are well known for their education. (Amanda, Ulfah)

References:
Social Media and Digital Footprints: Our Responsibilities. (2020, September 02). Retrieved October 21, 2020, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/social-media-and-digital-footprints-our-responsibilities