Think back to the last picture you posted on Facebook. Think back to the last tweet you posted. In 10 years, would you be happy with your old profiles and posts that you thought were cool at the time? Teens need to start realizing that what we put on the internet is going to be there forever and we might not notice it, but it might also be harming us.

  The survey, “What Teens Post Online Affects Future” on duncanday.com, showed that 1 in 10 young people were rejected for a job because of something they posted on social media. “Never let a 140 character tweet cost you a $140,000 scholarship,” assistant men’s basketball coach at Marymount (Virginia) University said in the online article.

  I can admit that all the things I have posted on social media I’m not proud of. Yes, people make mistakes but once it’s on the internet, even if you choose to delete it, it could follow you forever. Starting as teens, we need to think about our developing online personalities. Let’s face it, if you want to know what someone is like, you look at their profile, their posts, their tweets, their snapchat stories. Well, so do potential employers, college admissions officials, scholarship committee members, etc.  Not only is it nearly impossible to delete something off of the internet, but it’s also going to follow you for the rest of your life.

  Just the other day, I had a bad day, nothing seemed to be going right for me, and I was tempted to tweet something to my followers so they knew how I really felt. Then I stopped and thought “do they really care? Will people benefit from reading this? Does this make me look good or bad?” Guess what my answers were to all of those questions? They were all no’s, so I decided to just keep it to myself.

  Understanding something this big is hard for young people to realize, but is posting a picture of you at a party with your clique worth not getting that job you worked so hard for? Is it really worth not being able to get in a college due to a stupid post on Facebook that you posted when you were in high school? Ask yourself before you post anything in order to have a clean slate when business owners and colleges look through your profiles. Your post might win over your friends, but it could also a cost you a job. Like your parents and teachers told you when you were little and still probably remind you every once in awhile,  think before you speak . . . think before you post.