Facebook: To view or not to view?
We asked a high school junior: Should a parent (or college) monitor a high school students Facebook account. Here is his answer:
My personal opinion is that parents and/or colleges should be allowed to look at facebook profiles, but only to a certain extent. I don't believe the decision on whether or not to accept a student to a college should be weighted solely on some stupid thing the kid put on facebook while he was drunk out of his brain. Also, I believe that people should be allowed to voice their opinions on facebook; after all, that is the point of the website: for teenagers to feel as though other people actually care about what they have to say because no one wants to hear it in the real world. I would say that parents/colleges shouldn't view the accounts, but the obvious rebuttle to that statement would be that if they want to have privacy, they shouldn't have made a facebook in the first place. M.S., high school junior
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posted by Student View at
8:49 PM
20 Comments:
I do agree that once you've made a Facebook account, you're relinquishing a good portion of your privacy. Students should just keep in mind that it is a public forum and if colleges DO choose to look at a profile, they might not like what they see. Basically, be smart about it.
And just because you go out for drinks with your friends, that DOESN'T mean you should post a druken picture of you on your profile! If you don't want people to see it, if it may affect your future, education, job etc, don't post it! COMMON SENSE. Honestly, would you want to hire someone that may show up to work one day hung over, high etc? I don't think so.
Futhermore, fb ownership of theses photos should also be monitored and useble in courtcase case (in your diffence or in the other persons involved).
Anyone can get access to it somehow- and you KNOW that! Once its there, its gone... so think about all posts, photos, videos, whatever you post online, post it IN THE RIGHT FRAME OF MIND WITH THE RIGHT FRAME OF CONNTENT! If you don't want others to see whatever kind of stuff you do, don't post it on the internet!
I DON'T CARE HOW YOU CHOOSE TO LIVE YOUR LIFE. I think the point of this is to see if you are COGNISANT OF THE CONSEQUENCES THAT MAY FOLLOW ANY ACTION. Good or bad. Who know, a college may see a side of you that they can never see on an application. And that may not be the best thing, based upon that. Know one has the right to suppress one's right to free speech, and no one should censor themselves if they don't want to, but do it in a more personal way, not on facebook where anyone can see. The internet is free game for anyone.
- this was taken off of one of my notes on fb, by the way.
I agree with the fact that if you're willing to put it on a public web page, then you should be willing to accept consequences flung your way from parents/teachers/colleges/etc. If you don't colleges assuming you're an alcoholic, then don't put up pictures of you drinking a few times a week. If a person was basing their sole judgement on you off of your facebook page, would you be proud? Personally, I'm friends with my mother, father, and grandmother on Facebook, so I try to keep my "party profile" to a minimum. Go out and have fun with your friends, but please, explicit behavior doesn't necessarily need to be shown to the world.
I think colleges should view Facebook profiles, but only to an extent. Colleges are looking for students who will make their community grow and be successful, but if they see a prospective applicant's pictures, and see them drunk in every single one, what impression is the applicant making on the college? Not a very good one.
Personally, I believe that colleges have every right to view facebook and myspace pages, and that it should even be encouraged. If it were, maybe teenagers wouldn't post drunken pictures of themselves online, especially when they shouldn't even be drinking to begin with. You can go to jail for that, so why should a college accept you?
No. i dont think that schools should monitor students facebook profiles. As long as what they do doesnt interfere with the school, the rest shouldnt matter.
Kara
I have mixed feelings about college viewership of students' facebook accounts.
I agree that whatever is happening on the students' facebook profiles should not influence colleges' decision of acceptance, and therefore, to adhere to this notion colleges should not look at facebook profiles at all.
On the other hand, this may also create an incentive for high school students to act more professionally and maturely about their facebook accounts.
I personally do not believe that colleges and such should be allowed to look at facebook profiles. If colleges, jobs, etc. etc. looked at peoples profiles, than a whole new type of criteria, that is on what's "acceptable" and what is not, is formed. And the problem with creating this new criteria is the fact that colleges can accept or deny students off of more personal opinions. Example; I drink. I have pictures of me hanging with friends while drinking. Am I stumbling around and completely hammered in these pictures? No. But I have a beer in my hand in some of them and it's very obvious I'm in a bar. Now, let's just say I am applying for grad. school and the guy who starts the admissions process is very against alcohol. He looks at my profile. See's these few photos. He then might think that I am an alcoholic or I just want to party. He then has made a judgment about me and can deny me, for something that HE feels is not alright. Am I doing anything illegal? No. Am I hurting anyone? No. But he can still deny me for his personal opinion. And it doesn't necessarily have to be anything about drinking. It could be the clothes you wear on a normal bases, or the people you hang out with, your class in society, or even your religion. Anything. Guidelines might be created to say whats acceptable and what isn't, but that line is so thin and would change for every person, that a line cannot be drawn. Which in turn can make the application processes unfairly judged. I believe that the performance of the students on tests, applications, resumes, letters of recommendation, and interviews are complete and have the best chances of being fair. I know life is not fair, but I would rather know because I have 3.0 I have just as good of a chance as anyone else with a 3.0 and not hoping someone picks me because they approve of my facebook.
One quick thing, I do not believe that employers and colleges should be allowed to look at facebook profiles as part of the application process, but it does happen. I think you have to be smart about what you do post online, regardless of this whole topic, because anyone can find it. If you don't want people to see something or know something, don't post it online. If you do at least turn on high security features so you can still have some control of who is looking at what if you care that much.
Um first of all, Facebook itself is a public forum, but your own Facebook page is a private account, if you wish to make it that way. Since your own personal page is technically a private account, colleges and parents should not be allowed to look at your profile without your permission. If you have your account set so everybody is allowed to see it without friend requesting you, then colleges and parents should be allowed to look at it without your permission because that is a "public page". I do not see any point in colleges looking at your Facebook page anyway. The most they will find is a post that can be considered "bad". You can always delete posts you've made that you do not with to be in existence any longer. BTW, this is my opinion so don't tell me I am wrong. That's why it's called an opinion.
I think it's okay for parents to monitor their children's facebook accounts for stalker alerts and such things, but what a person posts to his friends shouldn't be a standard for judging his or her capabilities or intelligence. Yes, you can get a glimpse of a person's character by looking at some posts, but these are poor examples to base the entire person off of. I took a "What tattoo is best for you?" test that automatically posted the results onto my wall, and a person can judge what they want from that, but the truth is I don't even want a tattoo. I was just curious about what the test might say about me. Also, comments people make directly to others can hardly indicate anything to an outsider. The outsider doesn't know the motivation behind the comment, the relationship between the two people, or anything about the recipient (let alone the messenger). Judging a person by their Facebook life doesn't give parents or colleges a clear view of the person. Interviews,
essays, and other direct forms of communication are best for getting to know people.
I absolutely agree that colleges and parents view a student's Facebook. Facebook is a public website and anything that is posted anyone can view it.
Consent must be given. Neither colleges nor parents have a "right" to private information such as what someone posts on facebook.
That consent is usually provided through privacy settings, and accepting others as friends. So, if you can't meet either criteria, I think you should have the guts to actually ask what you wish to know.
If you STILL can't get the information you seek, perhaps you are looking for something which doesn't exist. Belief without credible evidence is proof of nothing.
I think that parents and colleges and future employers and even teachers should be able to view a students facebook. Here is why most students wouldn't want their facebook viewed by adults in the community:
1. They are ashamed of what they have on there and don't want adults (parents, teachers, ect) to see it.
2. They use bad language and don't want that to be caught.
3. They are on facebook until 1, 2, 3, or even 4 in the morning.
5. They want their status to be something it probably shouldn't.
6. They want pictures on facebook from a party their parents didn't know they were at.
And there are so many other reasons, all of them are about lying, hiding, or being dishonest and doing things they know they shouldn't. So if a student doesn't want someone to view their facebook that is what I think.
Now on the other hand, keeping your facebook good and viewable to those people will gain you more trust, better credit with the people you need it with and a good way to get a job or get into that college!!!
So facebook is like a credit score, when you have ruined it, and people see that, they don't want you junk with you. But when you have good credit, or a good facebook, you can buy that new car, or get that job or into that college.
:)
Thanks!
I believe it shoul not be monitored. Everyone needs a space where they can do what they need to do to feel a sort of freedom in the world. Facebook allows that, to an extend, but it has its limits. It depends on the person and his/her morals at the end. Society bases itself on how we see each other and one should always be cautious about what can happen in these networks and the effect of them in the real world.
As a rule, you should ALWAYS control your online persona with an iron fist. If you think you're gonna get photographed doing something stupid, you probably will, and that photo will PROBABLY end up on Facebook, Myspace, and every other social networking site your friends use. I'll be honest, during my four years in college, I HOSTED parties in my apartment. There was plenty of drinking, plenty of embarrassing stories, and plenty of crazy things going on. However, I had a few strict rules at all of my parties. First, no cameras allowed for any reason, and if a camera went off from your cell, I'd kick you out right then and there. Second, all my invites were done as "private events". That means that only I could invite people, and if you weren't on my list, I'd call the cops and report a trespasser (this is why my landlord loved me). Next, I had a rule called "keep the landlord happy". Since my apartment was attached to the landlord's house, if he was unhappy, my lease was at risk. Finally, if my friends got plastered, I forced them to crash on my couch or floor (incidents resulting from that rule have tempted me to burn my carpet on more than one occasion).
I do not think that it is beneficial for colleges to monitor Facebook accounts, but I also think that allowing colleges to search for your profile is a sensible way of letting them know how you would like to be portrayed. Therefore, people have to display a sense of maturity publicly, even on Facebook.
I agree, b/c every1 shows their true self on FB. Some ppl act stupid, & some info on there should give the college a clear view of the person b4 they accept them for admission.
While I can see the benefits of allowing colleges view Facebook accounts, I do not agree that they should have the right to. When a college or business is considering you, they should be as unbiased and fair as possible. If you have said or done something they don't agree with on your Facebook page, they can use that against you when otherwise you might have gotten accepted, whether it was really wrong or not.
Parents, yes, should definitely be allowed access to their children's Facebook accounts, but there's nothing really on that site that colleges have to have to make a decision that should be focused on grades and the abilities accomplishments of the prospective students. Granted, if you open yourself up to them (and everyone else) by having a public profile, then you have no room to complain.
I have a Facebook. My uncle tagged me in a photo where I went on a tri with him and my aunt. He is Mexican, and she is white. If the college checking my account disapproved of interracial couples, I could lose my chances of being accepted there for something I didn't even do. I have no drunken photos, no bad language. My parents and some of my relatives have Facebooks and I am friends with them. I have nothing to hide. But I still think it's wrong.
I guess colleges should not monitor student Facebook accounts. However, parents should if their child is easygoing, unruly, and immature.
I think it is a very good idea for colleges to view the Facebook of their students. When you think of it, colleges don't want someone who gets drunk all the time to represent them. I know that colleges can't control whether a person gets drunk or not but it would be a wise move to view the Facebook accounts of their students. For example, if someone was planning to kill someone in a school, (somewhat like the Virginia Tech Massacre) they would post it on Facebook to tell their friends. If the school had access to that information on Facebook, the would be able to stop the shooting.
Also, if parents have a right to have access the their childs profile, a college has that same right. Colleges having access to a students Facebook profile would be very beneficial for parents, colleges, and even the students.
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