Bloomington High School North, Nikean, 2015, Page 14

Description:	THINK BEFORE YOU TWEETNorth Athletics Director Michael Mossbrucker/ Story and photo by Nina CastroIt took 30 seconds to post a picture of a blunt onInstagram. 1 5 seconds to send a questionable tweet aboutthe new English teacher. Consequently, years of schoolsuspensions, canceled job interviews and lost scholarships forthem to be forgotten.Social media has exponentially grown in the last decade,and the effect it has had on high school students has beenboth beneficial and damaging.Stress is constantly put on students to be careful with whatthey post online. Whether it be for security or social reasons,something posted is there forever, and it only takes a matterof days for a racy picture or inappropriate Facebook statusto circulate around.What you post out there is permanent. It doesnt go away.It has a digital footprint, and its going to be there for yearsand years to come, Levi Carmichael said.Carmichael has been an assistant boys basketball coach atNorth for the past two years. He tells his athletes that beingpart of a team is not something to take for granted. It comeswith various responsibilities, including the responsibility to becareful with what is put online.Being an athlete is a privilege. What we tell our boys is,Youre representing North wherever you go, whether youlike it or not, Carmichael said. What you say, what youpost, whatever you say outside of the locker room, affectsyou and your team.Carmichael acknowledges that much of what is posted onsocial media can be the result of an attempt to let off steam.But once its out there, its hard to take back.With your generation, the first thing you want to do isblog, or go to Facebook, or Twitter. The unfortunate thing is,it might just be a heat of the moment type thing, but thatstays there forever, Carmichael said.As a student athlete, social media also becomes a platformfor game day motivation, statistic sharing, and sometimes,trashtalk.Before the North-South game, the boys basketball coacheswere strict about their players getting on social media.14//
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomnorth/id/7923
Collection:	Bloomington High School North

Further information on this record can be found at its source.