What #DoItForTSU says about the college students who use it

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#DoItForTSU allows students to anonymously submit photos to shared with followers of its SnapChat stories.

If you’re a fan of SnapChat, the photo-sharing app that has taken the social media world by storm in the last two years, there’s a very good chance you’ve heard of #DoItForTSU. This campaign, which allows users to anonymously submit photos of their various shenanigans, has already been the focus of a shutdown attempt by Tarleton administration, albeit an unsuccessful one. Students have shared photos of extreme sexual content – everything from group sex to questionably saggy male testicles – along with pictures of drugs and underage drinking. These photos have caused a stir among the student body (and internet perverts everywhere).

If what I’ve described here sounds horrifying, that’s because it is. But more than that, this campaign says several things about the students contributing to it:

They think they’re invincible.

When I first heard about #DoItForTSU, I was skeptical that it even existed. Sure enough, however, one of my fellow staff members was following the SnapChat account, and graciously allowed me to view the latest story updates. Among tame photos of beer bongs and shot glasses (we get it freshmen, you can drink now) was a seemingly endless collection of nude photos, many of which included the faces of the students (mostly women) featured in them.

Here’s the thing about college students – we’re incredibly arrogant. The fact that someone would willingly share a nude photo of themselves with an entire university student body proves it. Have you ever heard of a screenshot? It’s not as if SnapChat makes it impossible to swipe a permanent copy of a “temporary” picture. And you can ask Jennifer Lawrence about this – embarrassing photos have a way of coming back to haunt you. Nothing – let me say this again, nothing – on the Internet is ever anonymous. It is, however, permanent, forever and ever, amen.

But I suppose, if you were really concerned about the photos getting out, you wouldn’t have shared them with a university-wide SnapChat account.

They think this is what college is supposed to be about.

How many movies, television shows and songs have been written about college? A ton, right? Now how many of those actually paint a realistic picture of what college is about? Not very many. I came to college thinking that life would be endless parties and hangovers in algebra – and for a while it was, until I came to my senses after a semester of heavy drinking and realized I was still acting like a high school kid.

I’m not saying adults don’t drink, or go to parties, or have sex with strangers. All of that happens well after college is over, and I wouldn’t dare to judge anyone who did it. But the thing is, participating in those activities because you think they’re what you’re supposed to be doing is a risky game and a slippery slope.

These days, everyone our age wants to be spontaneous and carefree. We pretend that we’re “down for whatever” because we are terrified to make waves. Nothing’s worse than being the girl who was too uptight to have fun, or the guy who ruined everyone’s good time by being a stick in the mud. And that attitude is how people end up being convinced to let someone share a photo of their genitals on a school-wide SnapChat page.

College is supposed to be the best years of your youth – a time when you grow into well-rounded adults with a realistic view of the world, so that you can be an effective contributor to society. But that will never happen if you’re afraid to stick out every once in a while. Adults who have a grasp on reality know that they can’t share photos of their genitals on social media, no matter how fun it sounds. It’s more important to stand by your convictions.

They’ve forgotten how valuable they are.

Tapping through the story on #DoItForTSU made me sick to my stomach (although that may have been all the male genitalia). But more than that, it truly broke my heart. I couldn’t help wondering – who told these beautiful women that all they were good for was a quick bang and a SnapChat photo? Who told these good men that they had to drink more beer, do more drugs, and use more women to gain cool points?

Ladies, where is your self-respect? Don’t you know how beautiful and important you are? You are so much better than reducing yourself to pornography. Not to get all preachy, but you were designed by God to be respected and cherished, not used by little boys with facial hair. Please, realize how loved you are, and how much better you are than this.

Men, I know that other people have told you, probably your entire life, that being a man means getting laid and developing an alcohol tolerance that would rival Tony Montana. But that’s a lie. Being a man is about rising above the childish, immature actions of little boys and taking a stand for women and for each other. You, too, were designed to be something so much more than this.

The more attention gained by something like this, the more glorified it becomes. The creators of this account may have no idea what kind of damage they’re doing, but I think we need to stop seeing something like this as harmless fun and realize the severity of the consequences it could carry, not just for our school’s reputation, but for the lives of everyone participating.

Come on, Texans. We’re better than this.