This morning I woke up to a flashing new text message. My friend was in trouble. And by trouble I don't mean injured in any way — though she might've preferred that. No, instead her parents were absolutely livid.

Not long ago, my friend (being about a year younger than me) had gone out with her older sister to a small "party." Her older sister was in college, but nonetheless under the legal drinking age. After some consideration, she allowed the consumption of alcohol, and my friend, this being one of her first experiences, decided to document the moment with photos.

Unfortunately enough, these photos ended up on Facebook, and being a public site the photos circulated and got back to her mother. Now, my friend is grounded. Probably for life.

Now, most people at Uni claim they would never do something so ridiculous as to post photos of themselves underaged drinking. Or smoking. Or whatever you might do in your spare time. Especially on Facebook! I mean how ridiculous is that, right? The sad thing is, it happens all the time. There have been multiple "gossip girl" Web sites, and even now I can undoubtedly get online and probably find something to use against most people in our school.

Personally I think I've experienced it all. My freshman year Julie Chen and I had "fun" participating in what became known as blog wars, which basically entailed writing snide comments via personal blogs. But that didn't stop me there. Last year I was involved in a disciplinary matter due to my inappropriate Internet usage. And there were quite a bit of smaller things that happened between those events as well.

But that was when I decided to stop posting. I completely stopped blogging, and I rarely post pictures online anymore. It might've been a result of getting grounded multiple times. It might've been a result of my disciplinary experience. It might've even been a result of my own conscience. Either way, I try to limit myself now.

The problem that I had is the problem I think most people have: They think they're not susceptible. What you do outside of school, you can't be disciplined for inside of school, can you? Actually, you're wrong. And for the most part the administration has the same amount of access to all your Web sites as the rest of your peers do. So, if you're drinking, smoking, or even just saying something about someone else outside of school, and it gets posted online, the school has the capability to step in.

Coming from personal experience, this isn't necessarily supposed to be a lecture. And in all honesty I can't see most people taking it into deep consideration. But nonetheless, it's more so a warning than anything, and if you want to learn the lesson the hard way (as I, my friend, and others have had to do) just be prepared for the consequences.

Because no matter what you may think, there are always consequences.