According to the The Harvard Crimson (Harvard’s school newspaper), Ismail B. Ajjawi flew to the US to attend the fall 2019 semester at Harvard but was denied access by a Customs and Border Protection agent. Why? Simply because of something his friend posted on Facebook that was deemed “Anti-American”. Though he was sent back to Lebanon after this occurrence, Harvard and AMIDEAST (a scholarship organization sponsoring Ajjawi’s education) worked hard to bring him back to the U.S. before the semester began on September 3. Luckily, he was able to return to the U.S. and arrived on campus a day before school started. 

What does this have to do with Oakton students today? Teachers always tells us students to be careful of what we post because it could affect our futures. But what if that’s not the only thing we have to be careful about? What if we also have to be careful about what our friends post? I mean let’s be real, I’m following 1,552 different accounts. Each account has at least one unique brain with different ideas and viewpoints influencing the account, meaning anything can be posted and ruin my future -not to mention the hundreds of ads that pop up on snapchat and Instagram. I don’t think I follow anyone irrational that could detrimentally affect my larger future, or on a smaller scale, potential job offers or even losing current jobs. Think about it: business managers don’t know who you are, but can get a small idea on the type of person you are by looking at social media. They can see the type of people you attract by seeing who you follow and who follows you, they can see the potential purchases you can make if you follow name brands, and can even figure out your political stances by knowing what politicians you follow or viewpoints that you post/repost about. One post from you or your friends could potentially determine if you get a job or not. 

Despite it all, the chances of a business manager really studying every single post, story, and friend that’s on your account is slim, so you shouldn’t have to worry about frantically unfollowing the extremes on your socials. But does that mean you should reconsider unfollowing them? That’s up to you.