Hazardous Hobbies

November 23, 2009  
Filed under News

You have done your best to make yourself seem like an excellent candidate for your dream college. You get good grades, volunteer and are well rounded. When all is said and done, all you can do is hope that they accept you, but when decision day comes, it is a possibility that one of your favorite pastimes will be holding you back.

Social networking is a favorite hobby of many teens these days. Fifty-five percent of online teens said they have created a profile on a networking site such as Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. Social networking accounts are made to help people keep in touch with their friends, reconnect with old buds or to meet new people. Some businesses even use them to promote a product and advertise. The sites can be a fun, good way to communicate, and for teens, they are an easy way to stay connected to the social scene. Many students at Ottawa High School follow the Facebook fad.

“Truthfully, I use it to get in on all the gossip,” Kearsten Peoples, senior, said. “Also, to talk to people when I’m bored.”

On these sites, users can write blogs, chat with or message other friends, post pictures and videos and update their “status” so their friends can see what they are doing or what is on their mind.  But when does posting personal information online cross the line? Teenagers often forget that when they put something on the internet, it can instantly be accessed by anyone, even college administrators.

More and more these days, colleges sometimes check out a student’s online profile, and what is on yours may affect the way they see you. Peoples has had first-hand experience when it comes to colleges looking at Facebook.

“Coaches send me messages and try to friend me, send me information on their school, or a link to their site,” Peoples said. “I’ve accepted a couple. It depends on the school and the coach.”

You might think that colleges only care about education and academics. That is not true. Colleges want people who are well-rounded and will represent their school well. It may not be fair, but Peoples said she knows there is a reason behind the snooping.

“I don’t think they should judge you by your profile, but I know they do it to find good character,” Peoples said.

Just by looking at your profile, colleges can find out a lot of information about you that you probably would not have shared otherwise. If they do not like how you spend your time or the things you say online, it can affect their attitude towards you, and, eventually, their decision to accept or reject you. Therefore, it is really important to monitor the things you say and put on your profile. When you log on, check your page. Is its content suitable for coaches or professors to see?

“You don’t want them to see bad stuff and think things about you before they even know you,” Peoples said. “I have personal information on there, but as far as too much information, I watch that.”

Remember that the site is accessible to more people than just your friends. If your page is inappropriate, then you probably should not have that information on the Internet.

So next time you are thinking about uploading your pictures of last weekend’s raging party, or changing your profile status to “wasted,” think again.

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Jaime Birzer

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