Social Media's Effects on Sports and Safety

  On March 7, CHS had a presentation on technological safety and how people abuse social media. The presenter mentioned Curt Shillings and Yuri Wright and how social media affected their lives. People buy phones and new technology in hopes to instantly message, share or take photos of things they experience in their life. The mistake many people make is that they use the social sharing devices to attempt private communication. Apps like Snapchat promise the pictures and videos being shared are deleted within seconds, what people miss in the privacy agreement. The privacy agreement states the pictures and videos are not deleted but saved on digital hard-drives. In fact, your personal use of apps is not anonymous and most definitely traceable from the second you post or share. Curt Shillings proved this completely true when he was able to track down the people tweeting quite vulgar things about his daughter. He was able to obtain the personal identities of the aggressors and black balled them. One was fired from their job and another was even kicked out of college. They thought they would be safe anonymously tweeting such statements, but failed to read the privacy agreement where it clearly states that the user of the account can be traced and then subjected under the law for their actions. Yuri Wright found out the same thing when his immature tweets lost his scholarship, which was a full ride, to Michigan U. His numerous tweets talking about females and simply crude statements lost all chance at performing on a Division 1 field. He had warnings from many coaches and family members to just stay off twitter and to know that people are watching his account, but failed to stop tweeting. He thought his actions on social media would have no affect on his chance at playing football, but in the end he payed the ultimate price for now attending and playing at Colorado U. People don't realize how their actions online can so easily affect their lives in and out of the virtual world. Our upcoming generation will be the test dummies for future generations on how technology advancement and exposure at young ages can affect society. People are given technology with no safety labels or warnings on how social media or just any part of the internet can dramatically change your life by your actions when online. The key idea that people must remember is that whatever you say or do online is public and permanent.

Yuri Wright while playing in the all-american football game.