A s the snowflakes began to fall, the first thought that came to many students’ minds was to grab their phone and post on their social media accounts about the unusual weather. As the Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook worlds clogged with excited tweets and posts about the snow, it became a source of information to others.
In an email interview, senior Mandy Almarode said that she uses social media like a news channel or website.
“I use my social media to get information all the time,” Almarode said. “I use it more to probably spread information out.”
Students use social media as a way to connect and inform each other of things instantly. As soon as exams and school were cancelled, students took to social media to inform each other. Other students took to social media to find out what was going on. Twitter has become “the news” for many teenagers and young adults.
“I don’t really take the time to check the weather,” Almarode said. “I usually find out from Twitter or my parents.”
Social media can be a reliable source. Students often tweet after hearing directly from the source.
When there is inclement weather sophomore Brendal Vargo often does not get the information directly from the source, so she turns to social media.
“I do think it is a reliable source because sometimes for school cancellations, I do not always get the call from Dr. Bobby Browder and I know others who do not either,” Vargo said.
History teacher and varsity basketball coach Travis Carr is no stranger to social media either. During the snow days, Carr made predictions about school closings and tweeted them out to Prince George students. All of his predictions came true making him a popular person to follow throughout the wintry weather.
“I try to predict school cancellations and I’m usually right,” Carr said.
Carr only checks the weather when snow is involved and like many students, he uses social media to be updated.
“I’m informed about the weather through social media and through my friend D.J who runs a site called WxRisk,” Carr said.
Social Media is not only a popular place to find weather information but can also be used for sports updates, television show updates, and much more. Students use it to stay updated on a wide range of information, bypassing direct sources.
“One main source of information is whenever there are big events on television, people are always tweeting about them so I do not have to be watching the event for me to know what is going on all the time,” Vargo said.
However, these sites can often become clogged with unnecessary and repetitive information.
“There are a lot of people on Twitter who have let it consume their lives and just like to hear themselves ‘speak,’” Carr said.