I don’t know what kids these days are thinking.

They constantly hear about what they should not post on social media like Facebook, yet they still do it.

They get a job to earn a little bit of extra money, and they don’t show up to work or just slack off while they are there. And they post about it online.

Is my generation really that much separated from how I grew up, even when we are just a few years apart?

I don’t feel like I was so naïve when I was young that I would have posted something I wouldn’t say it in public.

But then again, maybe it’s just that social media such as Facebook and Twitter highlight those children and they speak louder than all of the others. I know I was more than guilty of writing a “woe is me” MySpace, Facebook, or Xanga post not all too long ago, so perhaps it is just something that comes with age.

I recently saw a story about a 19-year-old boy in Austin, Texas that was arrested for making a terroristic threat. In the post, he made a sarcastic “joke” that he would shoot a kindergarten and “eat the beating heart of one of them” after a friend told him he was crazy messed up in the head.

He was arrested shortly after and has been in jail ever since.

While the post is clearly inappropriate, wrong and incredibly concerning, I don’t feel like prison was the answer for this boy. He obviously is in need of some help and rehabilitation, but putting him in jail with people who actually committed crimes is too much for one Facebook post.

This is much more of a deep-seated problem with the system in place right now, but the key reason for the arrest was because he posted something he shouldn’t have.

Ask yourself with every post you make, “How will this appear to my friends, family, job interviews, and anyone else of any importance?”

You probably won’t threaten to shoot up a school, but posting pictures of yourself when you’re drunk or high or hinting about doing anything negative could be detrimental.

If you don’t follow that basic practice, it could easily come back to bite you.