Ever heard of the expression “The Internet is forever”?

Chances are you have, and it’s never been truer. The most typical fashion in which our generation hears that phrase usually comes with discussions of future job employers and life after college.

Though that’s true, it’s not the only aspect to take into consideration.

Let’s say the three major social media platforms in Facebook, Twitter and Instagram fall off the map in the next 20 years and they are no longer used on even a fraction of the scale that they are used today.

But let’s add a twist.

The websites still exist, which means the content still exists, which means pictures taken and posted in 2014 will still be easily viewable in 2034, about the age most of us will have kids that will be more than capable of finding these pictures of good ol’ mom and dad. Interesting scenario, right?

Truth is, this is more of an inevitability than a possible scenario. The Internet truly is forever, and forever is, in fact, forever. If you have the voice of Squints from the Sandlot going through your head right now, it means we’re on the right track.

There are a good majority of people who have posted at one time or another, or some on a regular basis, pictures that we probably will not want our future children to see of us. And let’s be honest, with each generation becoming more technically savvy than the last, the kids will find it, no matter how hard we try to hide it, unless we just delete it altogether.

And it’s not just pictures. It’s everything you put online. Your tweet about how dumb the driver in front of you is, or the rant on Facebook about how much you can’t stand the fact ACU won’t let you bring alcohol into the dorms, or any number of questionable status updates or tweets you put up, your kids will probably find.

I don’t want to sound like anyone’s mom, but let’s be real. You put something online, it is forever. It will be there and it will be the website’s property. So above all, just be careful about what you post. Odds are, we all post too much stuff to begin with, but that’s just my opinion.