*Rant warning: I'm sorry if you're not a fan of rants or messages which have a bit of that angry undertone of a mom telling you what's right or wrong, but you've been warned.*
Most adolescents and even both younger and older people have probably heard of the infamous VSCO. This app can be found on any smart phone and is mostly used as a replacement for Instagram.
A few noticeable differences are that VSCO has little captions, no likes or comments, and only re-blogs onto each others collections. Additionally, one cannot just look up a user unless they know their exact username or hyperlink. This makes it so people feel under this security blanket of anonymity. You don't have to use your name, since it's not connected to most other social media.
I actually enjoy using VSCO, since it has awesome filters that make photographs look more vintage, brighter and give them a pop of black and white. I've been using VSCO since my sophomore year of high school, and I'm now entering my second year of college. In other words, I've had the app for a long time.
It's developed a simple editing application to a world of nude photographs and smoking gifs. When the app began allowing people to post things on their said "wall" or "page," I was excited. I love Instagram, but I hate how it's essentially a contest for who can gain the most likes.
VSCO was different, it was just a place to share your artsy photographs in mass without annoying people or worrying about the number behind the pictures.
Now let me just say something before anybody gets defensive. If you want to partake in doing drugs, smoke all the weed in the world. If you want to take naked photographs of yourself, you go girl. I'm for body positivity, I understand many people smoke for numerous reasons and I'm an advocate for doing whatever you want to do. However, people have formed this blanket of invisibility over themselves through VSCO.
All I ever see anymore on the website are quick videos of bowls and puffs of smoke or girls in their underwear. Not to mention they're girls who range from between 14 to 17 years old.
I'm writing this article not to yell at you, not to tell you this is disgusting or outrageous. Instead, think of it as a quiet plead. You are not hidden, anything you put up on the internet will stay there for the rest of your life despite whether you press the delete button or not.
Think before you post. Ask yourself "Is this productive?" "Will this post make my life better in any way?"
If that's not enough, know that most potential employers will check your social media accounts. They are looking to find the best candidate, after all. And if you are the underage college student pictured holding a red solo cup with your chest on full-show, you can bet that you will not be their newest employee.
Your digital footprint is incredibly important, and I just want everyone to be a little bit more careful with what they post. That's your body, don't just flaunt bare pictures all over the internet - it's nobody else's business but your own.
When it comes down to it, you can post whatever you want if you don't care who sees your post, or if you don't care about the consequences. So as long as you are comfortable with the actions you are committing and actions that could happen in response, you do you - I just want you to be careful.
So to all my fellow VSCO users, yes I am seeing your naked pictures, but no I don't really care to see them. If that's what you want your peers to see of you, be my guest. Even I'm a little guilty of putting up a few photos I probably shouldn't have, I know we're all human.
As social media continues to grow, I think everyone needs to be a bit more conscious about what they make public. Because no application or private setting will ever completely protect you.
