By Eva Weber
Staff Writer

As the use of social media continues to rise, so does our power to manipulate it.

Recently it seems that there has been a trend towards using this power for the worse.

The new social media phenomenon, NekNominate, involves people filming themselves drinking copious amounts of alcohol, and then nominating a few other Facebook friends to post a response video out doing them.

The Facebook page dedicated to the craze reads, “Neck your drink. Nominate another. Don’t break the chain, don’t be a d**k. The social drinking game for social media! #neknominate. Drink Responsibly.”

This drinking game has gathered serious attention and has recently been linked to several deaths in the UK and Ireland. One such fatal case involved one boy mixing liquor with motor oil— which really leaves you wondering what his friend did in the preceding video.

Those who have been partaking in NekNominate have ranged from college students to a 10-year-old who nearly killed himself when he was nominated.
There are those that argue that social media can also be used for good, which is very true.

In the summer of 2013 a Simmons College student used social media to garner support for a professor who had been unfairly terminated. Thanks to the pressure from the online community the administration was forced to allow the professor to return to work for a year.

Although there is both good and bad in how social media can be used, it is important that we praise the uses that benefit others, and reprimand those that may cause harm.

It is the responsibility of parents and schools to teach their social media active teens, tweens, and in-betweens that social media has consequences, and that anything that goes on the internet lasts forever.

It should go without saying that things like bullying, reckless behavior and substance abuse are as equally serious on-line as they are in real life.