It was Halloween night 2015, and Marissa Wettengel and a group of her closest

friends dressed in their favorite costumes and set out to attend a local house party
in Oshkosh. They paid their five dollars for a red Solo (trademark) cup and joined
the packed party in the basement of the house.
After fighting their way to the keg in the corner, Marissa ran into a friend who was
dressed in a Hitler outfit, mustache and all. As the night continued and she and her
friends got more and more buzzed, Marissa decided it would be funny to take a
picture posing with the man dressed as Hitler, imitating the Nazi salute. In her
drunken state of mind, she uploaded the picture to Instagram, and went on with the
rest of her night.
I woke up the next morning to my phone lighting up with Instagram notifications
and when I opened the app, I immediately knew I had made a mistake, Wettengel
said.
Horrified and in disbelief that she took the picture and posted it to social media,
Wettengels first instinct was to delete the picture, but it was then she realized she
had a dozen comments waiting to be read. She recalls some of the comments
saying things such as Wow how drunk were you, Marissa? or You should really
remove this photo because its insensitive and it can get you into trouble.
Shamefully, she deleted the photo and told herself she would be more careful with
posts in the future.
It was that day I really realized my actions can have consequences on social media
sites, Wettengel recalled. I always made fun of people who posted bad things on
sites like Facebook or Twitter, so it was eye-opening to see how easy I got myself in
that position, and I know it dont want to be there again. Its not who I am.
It has been a decade since social media has taken the world by storm, and yet there
does not seem to be a shortage of individuals in the world who have apparently
failed to learn the widely taught lessons about social media, namely that it can have
negative implications now and in the future. Technology has become engrained into
the lives of many college students, and having a presence on social media is a daily
part of life.
With the barrier between a person behind the keyboard and the rest of the world, it
can be easy for a person, like Wettengel, to forget about the possible consequences
of their actions online. These mistakes students make on social media websites can
impact a variety of factors including their relationship with the law, professional
career pursuits, university standing and mental health.
According to the consumer insight service Experian Simmons, more than 98
percent of college-age students use social media, and a nationwide survey
conducted by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles found that
27.2 percent of students spent more than six hours on social media per week in
2014.
At the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, these statistics are in line with the national
numbers. In a 24-hour period a Network Monitor Report shows that there are

approximately 231,333 Facebook sessions and 90,083 Twitter sessions on campus.

It is not surprising with this amount of sessions that, like many other college
students in the country, UWO students can find themselves misusing social media in
ways that can negatively affect their lives.
It has always been a popular belief that police officers have a presence online in the
various social media websites. UW Oshkoshs Interim Police Chief Christopher
Tarmann says this belief is true.
Yes, we do monitor social media sites, Tarmann said. We do the best we can to
stay with the latest apps and be with it, and thankfully we have a whole community
who is partnering with us to get information together, and then we decipher what is
important and what needs to be investigated further.
Tarmann said the department frequently deals with social media problems, ranging
from minor to major incidents.
We deal with it, he said. Its not like we are spending hours on it each day, but
we have to respond to situations a few times a week, which seems pretty heavy to
me. We are getting information daily, what we do with that information depends on
the content that is in the information.
The minor incidents the department deals with typically revolve around receiving
tips about potential house parties, or other minor but not serious issues.
When it comes to viewing possible house party addresses, Tarmann said they dont
use that information to go and get people into trouble, rather, the intent is to make
sure it is a safe environment.
We get fed this kind of information all the time, [the department] being so trusted
in the community, he said. Everything we do revolves around the safety of our
students, so yes we will go investigate the party, but depending on the situation, we
are really just making sure everything is okay.
According to Tarmann, the department deals with more serious situations as well
including social media posts regarding bullying and harassment.
These two types of incidents are dealt with most frequently, Tarmann said. They
are really easy to do because you are behind a computer, and especially looking at
a site like Yik Yak, where the posts are anonymous so you never have to show your
face. Your biases are spread out online for everyone to look at and thats unfair.
Tarmann said students do get in trouble with what they post online whether it is a
fine, citation or worse.
It might not be in regard to what content was posted, but that content may have a
connection to a bigger event that we would then investigate, Tarmann said.
A benefit the police department has is the option to forward a student to the Dean
of Students office, who can then deal with the situation and proceed to disciplinary
actions if necessary.

I can warn them, give them a ticket, arrest them, but really the end goal is to
change behavior, he said. Depending on the situation I can send a student there
where they can do the investigation and interaction with the students to figure out
what is going on. It is not always the police department.
An Advance-Titan issue from 2006 called Guess whos looking on Facebook shows
that even ten years ago police were using social media to look into crime on
campus.
Former University Police Chief Mike Melland said browsing through online profiles to
catch people who violate serious crimes is something that falls into the police
departments realm of responsibilities.
Its a good source of intelligence for illegal activity, Melland said. I am unaware of
any law enforcement that doesnt use it- its common knowledge.
It has been nearly a decade since this article, and yet many college students have
not learned to watch what they post on social media, and continue to get into
trouble with the law.
A report from the Washington Post described an incident that occurred at the
University of Missouri in November 2015. Police apprehended Hunter Park, a 19year-old student responsible for writing threatening posts on Yik Yak, one post
reading Im going to stand my ground tomorrow and shoot every black person I
see.
Although Yik Yak is anonymous the site has guidelines for law enforcement, where
it keeps track of the technical details of each users device, the report said.
The report states that law enforcement agencies have the ability to request
information from Yik Yak if necessary, and once they receive the information they
need, it is easy to track down the person, like Park, to find out who is responsible.
Wettengel, an elementary education major at UWO, said she is an active participate
on the Yik Yak site, and never thought about the fact the site might not be as
anonymous as it seems.
I have posted things I probably shouldnt have on that site, Wettengel said. It
never really occurred to me that the site isnt truly anonymous, so in the future I will
definitely be making sure to watch what I am saying.
Tarmann said the biggest thing he wants students to take away is knowing that
what they put out to the world on social media will be there forever, and that it is
difficult to take back.
Know what you are sharing, he said. Be careful about what you are talking about
and posting because it might impact different things down the road, regardless of
what laws are in place. Have careful thought to how it could affect you and others
around you.

Social media plays a key part in getting hired in todays job search process, and
similar to the police using social media to their advantage, employers are using it to
benefit themselves as well.
According to an survey by CareerBuilders, who asked 2,303 hiring managers and
human resource professionals about screening candidates, 37 percent of these
employers use social networks to screen potential job candidates, and 34 percent
who scan social media said they found content that caused them not to hire the
candidate.
UWO internship coordinator and instructor-Barb Benish- says it is true employers are
looking up applicants on social media sites here in the Oshkosh community and
elsewhere.
I know they are looking, Benish said. I have had employers tell me the first thing
they do when they get an application is they always look at Facebook first, and then
check out other social media sites such as Twitter.
Benish said it is really important that students make sure what they dont want
people to see is private, and that they keep in mind who their friends are online.
She recalled a story about a woman who ended up getting fried from a job because
of a rant she posted on Facebook about her boss.
This woman forgot she was friends with her boss, and once he saw the rant he
ended up firing her, Benish said. Goes to show how careful you need to be online
and watch what you are posting.
Emily Peterson, a political science major at UWO, said she understands why
employers are screening potential candidates, but also thinks it is unfair to a person
solely on how they act online.
I think who I am on social media and who I would be in a professional setting are
two different people, she said. Obviously I would be professional in that setting,
but I am not allowed to be a regular person on social media and show my fun side?
According to Benish it doesnt matter if a student thinks it is fair they are being
critiqued off their social media pages because that is just how the world works right
now.
Im sorry, but that is just the way it goes, Benish said. The work place is
competitive and students need to come to terms that employers are looking online,
and if they want a good job they need to present themselves at a more professional
level online.
In the A-T article Guess whos looking on Facebook from 2006, the story said
Police Officers arent the only ones keeping an eye on social media, but employers
are as well.
Chrissy Lambie, the former letters and science advisor for Career Services, said
employers using Facebook, MySpace and other websites to look at candidates is

common, but they dont intentionally go out of their way to find incriminating
evidence, but are more likely to bump into that sort of information.
According to Lambie, students were surprised to hear Career Services were aware of
social media profiles, and made them think more responsibly on how they wanted to
present themselves online.
If you wouldnt want your mom or dad to see your photo of you doing a keg stand
or read about your weekend on a bender, dont post it, she said. If you work on
campus or in a job where you are expected to be a role model, think twice about
posting incriminating comments or photos.
This article was published nearly a decade ago, yet according to Benish, she still
deals with students she believes have not gotten job because of their online
presence.
I once had a student who I suspect wasnt getting any job offers because his posts
on various social media sites were just creepy, she said. I told him for two years to
clean up his posts and blogs, but he never did. I even had alumnis talk to him about
how what he was posting was hindering his employment opportunities. He never did
get a job.
Benish gave some tips to help students avoid the social media trap many job
seekers fall into.
Dont lie about your skills or qualifications online, employers will find that kind of
stuff, she said. Make sure your pictures are appropriate. Dont post a picture of
you drinking underage, or with any illegal substances. Also, make sure youre
dressed appropriately, girls make sure your dresses and shirts arent super low-cut.
Really, just try to avoid anything incriminating or inappropriate.
One might ask how you know if something is appropriate; Benish said if your
grandma can read it, then your employers can read it.
According to network monitor reports generated by an outside vendor for UWO, the
two most popular social media sites used on campus are Facebook and Twitter. Raw
data from these reports show that the number of sessions at these two sites on an
average day rises into the millions, but UWO officials say these figures are
exaggerated by the way the vendor measures traffic, counting as separate sessions
each page, image and piece of computer code.
A single page load likely counts as a dozen or more sessions not only for the page
and all of the images, but the CSS and JavaScript loaded in the background, said
UWO Information Analyst Dan Peterson.
Adjusting the raw data downward by a factor of 12 indicates that in an average
week there are approximately 879,166 Facebook sessions and 396,833 Twitter
sessions.
With the 13,942 students that attend UWO it is clear that a majority of students are
frequenting these sites on a weekly if not daily basis on campus.

With the amount of students who are using these sites, it is not surprising that the
university has policies and disciplinary procedures in the case students are using
social media sites in inappropriate ways, though the policies arent specifically for
social media use.
We dont have a section specifically for social media, just like we dont have
policies specifically about bullying, said Assistant Dean of Students Terri Gohmann.
But, the policies we have would cover the kind of behavior that you would find in
inappropriate use of social media or bullying kinds of behavior. Having broader
policies is actually more helpful than more specific policies.
Gohmann said the UW systems policies are not determined by each individual
university, but by the state legislature. Chapter UWS 17 deals with Student
Nonacademic Disciplinary Procedures, and Chapter UWS 18 deals with Conduct on
University Lands.
According to Gohmann in regards to social media offences, the two sections they
deal with most under UWS 18.11 are Offences against public peace and order (1)
computer use, and (2) disorderly conduct.
UWS 18.11 section (c) under computer use says No person may, with intent solely
to harass another person, send repeated messages to the person on an electronic
mail or other computerized communication system.
Disorderly conduct is defined under UWS 18.11 as No person may engage in
violent, abusive, indecent, profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud or otherwise
disorderly conduct under circumstances in which the conduct tends to cause or
provoke a disturbance, in the university buildings or on university lands.
The policies under UWS 18.11 regarding computer use such as annoying,
harassing types of behavior would be found here. Depending on the type of
behavior regarding social media use, the violation could also fall under disorderly
conduct, Gohmann said. We look at it by a case-by-case basis.
According to Gohmann, under UWS 17.09 Conduct subject to disciplinary action the
actions they deal with most in regards to social media misconduct are (1) dangerous
conduct, (3) stalking, (4), harassment, (8) disruption of university- authorized
activities, (12) violation of criminal law and (13) serious and repeated violations of
municipal law.
UWS 17.10 outlines the disciplinary sanctions that may be imposed for
nonacademic misconduct. These sanctions include (a) a written reprimand, (b)
denial of specified university privileges, (e) disciplinary probation, (g) removal from
a course in progress, (i) suspension and (j) expulsion.
Gohmann said disciplinary sanctions are dependent upon what the policy violation
is and whether it has happened before.

We look at first time bullying on social media differently than if it has happened
multiple times, she said. If the disturbance has already been taken action against,
and yet the student has continued, then there is going to be a stiffer sanction. It
truly is going to depend upon what specifically happened.
Peterson said she wasnt aware there were policies that could get a student in
trouble with the university itself.
I knew the university had disciplinary policies regarding things like grades or
violence, but it never occurred to me that what I posted on social media could
impact my place here at the university.
Gohmann recalled a time when an Oshkosh student made threatening statements
towards another student online, and the Dean of Students office instructed the
student to no longer contact that individual, yet the student continued to do so.
Usually when somebody violates a no contact instruction there has been pervious
behavior that the Dean of Students Office has had to deal with from that student,
she said. When they continue doing the behavior they will likely be placed on
discipline probation [like this students was] and reminded there is to be no contact
or retaliation. If they still continue, we would talk about whether or not that person
can stay at the university or not.
The university hasnt had to expel someone directly due to social media, but have
had to because of technology, Gohmann said.
It is hard because it might start with a threat on social media, but then it moves to
threats in person or something along those lines, so it wouldnt all be considered
social media based, and the level of discipline would change as well, Gohmann
said.
Peterson said she is glad the university has policies about social media use because
everyone should feel safe at UWO and if someone is using social media in the wrong
way they should have to take responsibility for their actions.
We are all adults here, and if your behavior online is harmful or effecting someone
is a negative way, then you should have to deal with the consequences of your
behavior.
According to Gohmann, it is hard to compare the amount of students disciplined 10
years ago to today because each year a new batch of students joins the university.
Every year we kind of have to teach the incoming students how to use social media
in a way thats not harmful or problematic for you or for other people, she said. I
dont think there has been an increase or decrease in social media cases, but we
still deal with it on about a monthly basis.
Gohmann said the best advice she can give to students is to not put anything out
there you wouldnt want to be printed in a newspaper, or have your parents read.

Know that it is always out there, so be careful with the information you are
sharing, she said. Check your privacy settings, and really just dont use social
media in ways that will be harmful to yourself or others.
In a 2015 A-T article Ask the Expert: Is technology addicting? neuroscience and
psychology professor James Koch said the thriving influence of technology is
beginning to influence our daily lives.

It has become such a part of our lives that people wake up and wonder where
their phone is or if they got any text messages, Koch said. Literally, the first
thought of the day has to do with technology.
Though it isnt an official diagnosis, Koch thinks technology can affect the whole
body, and possibly become addicting.
Koch said there is a system called the four Cs that is used to determined
technology addictiveness- lack of control, compulsive use, consequences and
craving.
So, if someone exhibits all of those characteristics related to technology then you
can say they are dependent upon technology, he said.
Wettengel, an avid user of social media, said she would say she is probably addicted
to technology.
I am obsessed with posting and/or checking social media, she said. I constantly
feel the need to look at social to media to see what other people are up to or if I
missed anything. It is the first thing I check when I wake up and the last thing I do
before I go to bed. I would say I check it at least a dozen times a day, maybe more.
Although Wettengel loves being on social media, she said it can at times have
consequences on her mental health.
I sometimes get upset if I dont get enough likes on the pictures I post, she said I
have a rule where if I dont get more than 11 likes or favorites on any post or picture
within an hour I delete it. I know it sounds weird, but it is just something I do.
Wettengel also said it gets depressing when she sees others on social media sites
having a good time.
Sometimes I see my friends or people I know in pictures that show them having a
blast, and if I am not in those pictures I feel like Im missing out or not having as
much fun as them.

Robert Portnoy, director of Counseling and Psychological Services at the University

of Nebraska-Lincoln said he conducted a study where he has observed connections
between social media use, envy and mental health problems.

People tend to have a fear of missing out on all the fun that they imagine others
are having, which causes them to monitor social media even more closely, Portnoy
said. This then becomes a never-ending cycle of striving to have the elusive and
highly unrealistic perfect life, which, it is believed, can only happen if one stays
abreast of what everyone else is doing. Not surprisingly, this can lead to increasing
levels of anxiety and depression.
Looking back on her social media use Wettengel said she understands how her
dependency on social media is unhealthy, and wants to work toward being an
overall better user of social media.
I have made some mistakes on social media, and I think I let it control too much of
my daily life, Wettengel said. Moving forward I want to use social media in the
right ways that will have a positive impact on my future, rather than continuing to
make stupid mistakes that can be harmful to things like getting a job, my personal
life or just my overall well-being.

*This story was written for a Reporting 324 class at University

Wisconsin Oshkosh