Social media is a great way to stay in touch with old friends and keep up to date with new friends while you are in different states, or even different countries. You can post photos of animals being funny, share articles that you find interesting with your friends, and also post your own photos to show how you live your own life. But there are some negative consequences to social media that not many people seem to realize. And just because you think you put your profile on private doesn't mean that you're employer, or potential employer will not see.

A perfect example: *Mia calls in regularly stating that she is sick with a high fever, stating that she has been vomiting, and unable to keep food down. However, within the next few hours she posts several photos of her outdoors with some friends having a ton of fun while smiling and laughing. Although the post seems harmless to her friends and family, Mia seemed to have forgotten that she had coworkers and even a supervisor on her profile and didn't think about the negative effects that would soon follow.

Calling in and stating your sick is one thing, because yes it is important to stay at home if you are truly sick that way you don't pass on any virus to your coworkers or anyone that might walk into your place of business. However, if you are calling in sick when you are not and posting on social media then you might as well prepare for the consequences for lying to not only yourself, but also to your supervisor and coworkers, and forcing others to pick up the slack you left behind.

Another perfect example: *Caleb enjoys going out with his friends on the weekend to have a few drinks at the local waterhole, and most of the time after he has a few drinks his common sense is out the window and begins to post things on social media regarding his place of work. After a crazy night of drinking with this friends he gets home and begins to rant about his opinions about his coworkers, place of work, and supervisors. Caleb also divulges very important private information about the company and about the projects that he is not at liberty to discuss with anyone outside of work. Although many people do this, in the long run it will affect them since future employers will see that this could possibly happen to them, therefor would not higher them.

In the end Caleb was pulled into the office and fired for his misconduct.

Social media can be a great thing overall, however, there are many things you need to understand about it if you are wanting to be in the workforce. Be cautious about what you post, about what you are actually doing, and if you are supposedly sick limit yourself from posting. There's a high chance of you getting fired from your current place of work, and not being able to get hired on in the future.

* For legal purposes names have been changed.