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| Ocey Holland Class of 2018 |
There is no such thing as a discreet social media presence;
once you have shown interest in a story, topic, or video it is up for all your
friends to see. I agree with one thing that adults believe about our generation;
we are infatuated with social media. It seems our quality of life is based on
the content of our Facebook timelines, Twitter feeds, and Instagram profiles. Our
value of life is continuously changing as our friends post pictures in the most
ideal situations. On our homepage, we see our neighbors creating snowmen with
strangers and our cousins skiing with grandma. Our news feeds are flooded with
satirical articles, ten ingenious life hacks, and an odd number of things you
didn’t know about a celebrity. And sometimes people use their status boxes as
political leverage or personal venting refuge, which leads me to think about how
all of this will influence the forthcoming of politics in the United States.
As I scroll through the massive overload of family photos
and reasonably short videos – that always seem to be worth my time – I wonder
how the future of politics will be affected by social media. We are always told
to be mindful of what we post because employers frequently scan social media
sites to gather more about an applicant’s personality, a tip in which most of
my peers tend to disregard. It is no secret that the political world is filled
with the revealing of regretful pasts and strategic attacks. There are specific
campaign staffers who spend a considerable amount of time digging up stories –
that the majority of the public would normally have no access to – by making visits
to old establishments and finding paper trails that are relevant to the
opponent’s past life. This system usually takes weeks and a lot of effort to produce
results that will influence voters, but think of how significantly easier the
process would be when social media is admissible – where everything needed to
be uncovered is permanently out in the open.
A million and one questions run through my head as I think of
how I will find the candidate with the best track record of integrity. How will
I know they are the most applicable for the position? How will I vote for the
presidential candidates of 2032? Will I allow their resumes to confirm my vote?
Will I take comfort in the fact that they are venerable enough to make mature
decisions? Or will I judge them on their Facebook activity?
I allude to my own electronic imprint, and although I am
very careful in what I post, there are things that I notice can be taken out of
context and interpreted very differently. I say that,
because none of us are careful enough. Social media has become such a big
component in everyday life and with millions of things being shared every
minute, there is no way one can successfully filter such a high volume of
content.
The simple fact is this, no one knows how influential social
media can be in years to come; but the fact that it can potentially “affect”
your career should persuade you to proceed with caution. So I ask you, are you prepared
for the future game of politics?
Ocey Holland is a freshman McConnell Scholar studying political science. He is from Louisville, Ky.