Almost all of us are on social media these days. Whether it is Facebook, Instagram, Vine or Tumblr, you have probably have used all of these sites at one time or another. Twitter seems to be the most popular social media website for college students, ever since our relatives decided to get Facebook accounts and follow everything we post. Twitter has been a good switch since our relatives who love talking in elaborate detail cannot post anything under 140 characters.
With the rise of Twitter, you have probably stumbled upon the Etown Confessions Twitter account. I heard about Etown Confessions from other students during my first year, but I hadn’t checked it out until this past summer. The main point of the account is for students to post crazy stories or thoughts they have in the form of a “confession.” Most of these confessions describe sexual endeavors and drunken debauchery that students have apparently been involved in on campus.
Students anonymously send in their confessions through a Google doc. that is linked with the Twitter account. Then the people who receive the confessions post them onto the Etown Confessions Twitter account. A confession posted on the site is “had a crush on one of the OT girls since freshman year, still never talked to her. #wtf.”
While I did laugh at a few of the confessions, I was stunned by what people were willing to post on the account. It is difficult to find another sample confession that I could give because of their vulgarity. My roommate told me that every school has a confessions page like that. I checked out some of the other ones, and they are tame compared to the ones I have read on Etown Confessions. Even Penn State Confessions was disciplined in comparison.
I absolutely love Elizabethtown, and I love the people here and the College. What I hate is how some people treat each other in person and online. I am disappointed that some of the confessions use real names of students on campus. The confessions involving names include the person’s entire first name and their last initial. However, it is not difficult discovering who the student is considering this is a small school which only has about 2,000 students. It is amazing how far people are willing to hurt others just for a laugh. It is all fun and games until someone gets hurt. If no names are used in the actual confession, I think that it is fine. It may not necessarily be acceptable, but it’s tolerable. What is completely unacceptable is that several confessions use the actual names of students, some of whom I know personally. It seems that because each confession is anonymous, students seem like they have this power and freedom to hurt others. Those who are running the Etown Confessions page fail to realize how hurt people can feel by reading these confessions. One student felt it necessary to call a certain group of people on campus, “the definition of ratchet” in their confession. It disgusted me to read that. What was truly “ratchet” was that somebody posted that on Etown Confessions.
And now there is the new Etown Creep Twitter account, which was created in September. The Etown Creep goes around campus, takes pictures of people without their knowledge and then puts them on a Twitter account. What I found on this account disturbed me just as much as Etown Confessions. Most of the pictures are just of people walking to class, but some included people eating in the marketplace or studying in the library. One library picture that the Creep posted was shot through one of the library shelves. What I found even more surprising is that some of my friends are pictured on the account.
Whenever we see our best friends from a distance, we may send the occasional, “I see you!” text, or my personal favorite, “creeeeeeeeeeeepin ;).” One of my friends goes to the extent of calling me and says “I’m watching you,” to let me know he is close by. But this is between best friends, not complete strangers.
There is a fine line between creeping on your friends for your personal enjoyment and taking pictures of strangers to put them online. One girl who found a picture of herself on the page responded to the Etown Creep by tweeting, “Well don’t I feel special … or like I’m being stalked.”
The major issue with this account is the legality of what the Etown Creep is doing. If they were caught, they could potentially be sanctioned by the College or even arrested for stalking several students on campus. But the Etown Creep is obviously doing this as a joke, and it is nothing to get into a panic over. But what the people running these accounts fail to realize is that anyone can see these tweets, including prospective students.
Etown was my first choice of colleges. One of the reasons behind this was because I found the College and the students warm and welcoming. If I came across the Etown Confessions or the Etown Creep Twitter accounts while I was looking at other schools, I would have gone to another college. Each student is a representative of this College, even those running these parody Twitter accounts, which degrade what the school represents. A few bad apples can ruin the bunch.
For anyone who is going to make an Etown Confession anytime soon, be careful what you post. If you write that confession, you are only going to sound like an idiot by doing so. Even worse, you could hurt someone in the process. If you are going to do it, be smart about your stupidity, and leave names out of your confessions.
To the Etown Creep; some of us laugh about what you are doing, but others feel bothered. You only find it funny because you are still unknown to us. Before you know it, people will find out who you are and your tail will catch between your legs. It will happen when you least expect it, so keep your guard up. I will watch out for you, but if you somehow successfully creep on me, I will actually applaud you for it. Enjoy your creepin’ while it lasts.
