Over time, this generation has grown to factor their beliefs and "truths" from the reliance of social media platforms and the collateral data it produces. It not only allows for the analyze of conversations anymore as it has now extended on a global means of communication where if you are not thinking social, you are considered to not be thinking at all. With this being said, the most recent topic discussed is the need to post statuses on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or pictures of past semester grades--striking a chord with other students, parents, and even teachers. Is it truly necessary to show someone else aside from a parental one's grade point averages?

As online mediums become the more common way to converse with a large group of people, dashboards and news feeds are hotspots for instant updates on any account (sports, news, school, personal, or worldwide). Unfortunately, not every person is going to receive the same grades which lead to the further problem at hand in how these grades are not as share-worthy as one may think. Before posting anything on the internet, one should be thinking of the audience and eyes that will be looking at it. How the post is worded to the viewer should also be considered as more often than not with each letter follows a degree of annoyance unleashed onto these Facebook friends or Twitter followers.

Whether it is "private" or not, personal feats such as grades are a topic of interest especially when the end of the semester approaches and they are finalized. The eagerness is comparable to a child waiting for the ice cream man to drive through his neighborhood in how fast students are running to their screens to see, compare, and post. Comparison is just an act of violence against yourself, and what justice is it serving you anyways if self-confidence is measured by your own needs, not the capabilities of you in opposition to others?

Where the information goes to universally after receiving it is also one of the prime causes that can hurt a student's grades, yet we want to allow publication and credit them for this? Not only is it promoting more computer-mediated usage, it is furthermore engaging negative outcomes amongst peers. Perhaps these are the pessimists who loathe you for your GPA post out of pure jealously, or see it as a person looking simply for recognition to sound superior. It is not showing off in particular, but rather a personal sign of accomplishment that an outside eye would not observe as otherwise. Instead of waiting for someone else to give him the pat on the back he did it himself.

The only conclusion I can arrive at is that if I were to post my last semester's cumulative GPA on Facebook, three potential responses would occur:

1. Indifference, or in other words, the person who sees your posts and just keeps scrolling, (or in a perfect world even went so far as to "liking" it), and giving you the acknowledgment. This is the safest reaction as it might mean he or she read your post, but chose to move on and do nothing more.

2. Family praising — for the kid who has struggled in previous years and it is his first time making the dean's list, then yes. Go ahead and share your son's achievements, but only to the extent that you shared something out of appreciation, not because you think your kid is now Superman or something. He received an A or B, he is not fighting off crime. This can actually get embarrassing for the child too as sharing and posts are not always out of one's control. The feeling is not a bad one, but it can run parallel to your father yelling your name or cheering you on during a dance recital. It is not the favored effect, but it is always a good one as it gives more gratitude than planned.

3. Competition and bitterness — these are either your peers or people who were taking the same classes as you, but did not turn out with the higher grade like you did yourself. Regardless of how the class actually went, you ticked them off because now you are the threat.

Grades are hard to judge as it is for not everyone is in the same major or taking the same courses. Maybe the person that is bragging about her 4.0 GPA only took the minimum requirement and gym was one of her classes, or maybe she did work hard for her grades and this is what prompted the situation in the first place. All classes vary in levels of difficulty, and with each new professor comes different tactics. Someone who is a more visual learner will advance in a dance class versus the lecture-based class where she has the probability of falling asleep.

The final GPA is all but a number. It is a shame that this number does not distribute the number of hours of sleep a student obtained, though they could be similar with finals week, but it does not show all that was accomplished in a semester period either- the real triumph. What about those performances you put on, the hours of rehearsals or studying for examines, the commitment to showing up for class every day and putting in all the effort you had to give despite your car's battery breaking down or getting a ticket because you were stuck in traffic and could not find parking, or getting extra help outside of classes and so on.

Those students that do struggle could feel unaccepted if another person posts about how he or she did, meanwhile, he was putting in the same amount of hours if not more. By posting how well one did others can feel discouraged because they are not progressing as fast as another person. Save the grades for your fridge, not your public profile. In the end, a degree is what is going to get you the job, and what a person made out of their time given during school, not the writing on a piece of paper. I am not encouraging to try any less — it is opposite the case — more so just be careful who you are posting for. Students attempt to earn a high GPA, but when they do not reach their goal it adds more stress than what was once there.

Grades should be reflected as a self-praise, not a chance to boast about one's self if he has low self-esteem and needs reassurance from outsiders. There is a reason grades are viewed specifically in your account as it is meant for two eyes not 200. Be proud of your work, and realize that even if you are the on the viewer side of that social media post, success is not always what you see.