By Sophia Hysaw, Opinion Editor & Staff Writer
Social media has always been a form of escape from school, where students text and joke privately, but this year social media use has taken quite the turn. While students are still using social media outside of school it seems some have taken it upon themselves to create Instagram pages dedicated to “funny pictures” on school grounds.
It seems to have started with “Iths_parking”, an Instagram account filled with picture submissions of “bad parking jobs” in the Indian Trail High School student parking lot.
The account was harmless enough at first and many Indian Trail students could be found liking, following, even reposting these humorous pictures of cars half-parked on the grass or taking up two spots.
But quickly this became troublesome with students intentionally parking badly in hopes to be posted on the page. Soon many couldn’t find parking spots and found themselves being late to class in the morning due to their extensive search for a place to park.
No doubt influenced by the immense amount of attention this account was receiving, more Instagram accounts began to pop up.
From “Ithsbathrooms,” an account brimming with photos of toilets and sinks filled with uneaten hot lunch food, to “ita_slumped” an account used exclusively for photos of students asleep during class.
Not only are students purposefully parking badly but now bathrooms are being trashed and defaced daily and students are intentionally falling asleep during class or not paying attention to be posted on an Instagram page.
Teachers and staff started suspecting something was up, but they truly knew something was wrong when an Instagram page was created to slander and make fun of teachers as well as take and post pictures of them without their knowledge. It did not take more than a couple of days for the student to be caught and the account was taken down, but who’s to say another doesn’t just pop back up?
These joke accounts are no longer funny as custodians find themselves having to clean bananas and tacos from toilet seats, students drive through the parking lot numerous times in search of an open spot, and teachers discover students are making fun of them right under their noses.
While we all enjoy humor and entertainment on social media, these “jokes” are not light-hearted nor funny, and teachers are beginning to crack down on phone usage within classrooms.
While many students are already beginning to complain and point the finger, can we really blame solely the creators of these ridiculous accounts when they wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for the encouragement they received? These accounts would never have had the power to humiliate teachers or promenade revolting pictures of destroyed toilets without the countless students taking and submitting these photos and encouraging their continuation through likes and shares.
Not only are these accounts ridiculous and hardly even funny, but they are causing more harm than good. At this point, there is absolutely no reason for them other than to spread negativity throughout the school and cause consequences that everyone may suffer.