The impact that social media has on our community should be no surprise. Our school uses different accounts for different clubs, like our very own AHS Needle. However, it’s a different matter when an account is entirely student-led and is unaffiliated with the school while simultaneously using the school as a focal point. Typing “AHS” or “ATL” into the Instagram search bar yields dozens of results for school-related accounts. School clubs don’t oversee the majority of these accounts but instead are completely student-led.
Why do students make such accounts? Their purposes change with the form they take on. Do you want to see photos of bad parking jobs? There’s an account for that. Want to see random people’s shoes underneath the bathroom stalls? That exists, too. Memes, daily outfits, and overall student life can be spotted in the cluster of school accounts. This can be an uplifting sight to promote Trojan pride, but harmless fun can quickly spiral out of control.
The issue occurs in how the accounts are run and the intent behind their posts. Often, the person or people running a non-club school account take pictures sent by others through “DM’s,” or direct messages, and post them. This creates anonymity behind the whole account, so there’s no way to tell who sent in a picture, or if the people in the photo consented to its posting. The people running the account can delete any post with the click of a button, escaping accountability for its existence.
Some posts, in nature, are humiliating. Posted content meant to be private is shown to an audience it wasn’t intended for. The victim of this can only report the post and hope for the best. So while the victim is embarrassed, the post is gaining likes by the minute.
Accounts that follow these procedures perpetuate bullying and bad behavior. The intention of “good-natured fun” isn’t ample justification for the humiliation of many. These accounts thrive on the encouragement of likes, comments, and shares, so the next time you are about to double-tap, think about the content you’re supporting.
