Social Media Affecting Teens' Abilities to Get Jobs

Social media has taken the world by storm, and society has not predicted the various effects of it. For instance, it is now beginning to impact people’s abilities to get jobs. Now more comfortable with sharing about themselves online, teens are being exceedingly open about their personal lives. Employers have started looking up job applicant’s social media accounts to see what kind of a person they are, which is a popular technique to learn the truth about their possible future employees. However, this can lead to their employer finding inappropriate and/or very personal information, sometimes forfeiting their chance at the job.
There is also the concern that with the growing amount of importance associated with constantly checking their accounts, that teens may not be able to focus on their work, instead choosing to play around on their phone.
“Social media kind of affects their ability to work because they start to prioritize their social media accounts and growing their following over their work,” Elisha Makerell ‘18 said.
Many places of work now have cell phone bans during working hours. Checking social media to often on a phone or computer when an employee is supposed to be working can now be grounds for termination.
“Yes, I have social media accounts, but I don’t think it will be a major problem for me because I keep my accounts on private so my personal life stays personal.” Joanna Watimena ‘18 said. Priviting accounts can be a useful way to keep personal lives personal, but, with wanting as many followers as one can get, the majority of social media-users do not put their accounts on private.
“I think it may be a problem for other people if what they post on social media affects their employer’s company’s reputation,” Watimena said.
Perhaps this side-effect of social media will change how much people will post online, since the first “social media generation” is just beginning to become adults. There are still many side-effects of social media that society is not ready for, and as people continue using it and changing the way it is used, more may occur over the coming years.