Every year, students from the graduating class will organize an Instagram account where other students share their college decisions, and whoever is in charge of the account will make a post for them. This post includes the college they’ll attend, their major, and their senior photo. This has been going on since around 2017-18. It sounds like a way to shine some light on our piers, but it is not. Instead, it is a popularity and status page. The more popular you are, the more likes, comments, and shares you get. These numbers equate to your social status. If you aren’t considered cool, your post will reflect that. As you scroll through the account, this is evident. You can clearly see who is relevant and who is irrelevant. 

It is basically a humiliation ritual for anyone who isn’t on the lacrosse or cheer team. Those people will get all the recognition. Anyone who doesn’t fall under that category will expect nothing. One person may get dozens and dozens of likes and comments, while another person will get close to two. On top of that, ten posts will be posted at a time, which doesn’t leave enough room to recognize everyone. Everyone deserves the chance to have their own moment, but the Instagram account creates divisions and cliques within the grade. It creates a negative environment for students and often leaves them feeling behind. It promotes feelings of loneliness and expresses the comparisons and insecurities that teens may feel. 

There is already a negative stigma surrounding teens and social media use. When students are put on the spot like that, it may be disappointing for them when they don’t have the same amount of attention that someone else received on their post. The sole purpose of these pages is to recognize student success, but they instead lead to comparisons of stats and schools. When students see everyone attending very prestigious schools, they may feel inferior if they didn’t attend similar schools or “succeed” as much as their piers did. They may feel that their efforts and achievements mean less than the next persons when they see what others are doing with their life after highschool. 

It makes me upset that first of all, the like count is even public. We can all see how many likes someone got. I feel that maybe the likes should be hidden in hopes of preventing dissapointing. Second of all, it makes me mad that the account has become such a big deal. It puts even more pressure on people to be considered relevant. Do people only are about your achievements when you are popular? And does your college decision only matter to others when you have status? These are the questions that I wonder as I feel that validation solely comes from likes in this scenario. I feel that yes is the answer to both. Despite all these things, I still think that the account is a fun way to recognize our seniors.