After wondering about all the things that I could have potentially written on my Facebook and others pages when I was younger, it made me want to research and see what adolescents were writing on their own pages right now. I have a lot of cousins and many of them are younger than me and I know that they are unaware that the things they are publishing on the internet could potential affect them in the future. So I started my research by simply looking at all the pictures, wall-to-wall posts, and status updates to see if I could find anything that I personally wouldn't want an employer to see and just as I suspected, my little cousins aren't afraid to put anything on their Facebook pages. It blows my mind at the things that I found and I'm sure that there are worst things that others have published. It makes me want to tell them to watch what you do or say on the internet because you never know who may see it.
Do you think that because they are so naive about their future employer that they are possibly doomed when they decide to enter the workforce? I believe they might actually be in a little bit of trouble because once something is on the internet, it is there forever. But you never know Facebook or other sites might not even be popular in 5+ years, so maybe they will have nothing to worry about with employers. This is just something that I began to wonder about and I wish someone would have warned me about when I first started using Facebook and other social networking sites.
I think that since our age group started using Facebook closer to college that we are a little bit less naive about the face that people can see what we post, and these people may be our future employers. I think that some outside organization needs to step up and inform these middle school/high school aged kids to watch what they put on Facebook. Anyone from an employer to a child predator has access to this information and it needs to be kept private. I know with our age it was being safe in online chat rooms, and I know I never listened, so does this mean that this younger generation won't listen either?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say they are necessarily "doomed".
ReplyDeleteOur potential employers, or those within Human Resources who could possibly "FB stalk" us before hiring, are likely to be in their 30s or later. Facebook to them is a way to connect with old classmates and distant family. They didn't have to live out their college years online so it's hard for them to understand why we do.
With our generation, it's a part of our everyday lives. Not a weekend goes by that we aren't tagged in a picture and yes, we're 21, so we are probably at the bar. My point is while we have to tow the line, I believe our generation will show more leniancy, if not more understanding, when we are the ones hiring. After all, we've been there.