Social media has become a part of life for most teenagers and young adults in recent years. Many see websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as a way to connect with friends and to see what other people are up to. However, these websites have proven to be nothing but trouble for a few athletes.

For example, Johnny Manziel was one of the most electrifying college quarterbacks the sports world had seen in years. He won the Heisman Trophy in 2012, crowning him the most outstanding collegiate football player of the 2012 season. This occurred during his freshman year and he became the first freshman to ever win the Heisman Trophy. He had another excellent season in 2013, when he finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy.

Manziel was drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the 22nd pick in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He was expected to be drafted higher, however, character issues caused him to slide to later in the first round. Character issues would prove to be the reason why Johnny Manziel is currently a free agent. There were multiple occasions where a picture would surface on Twitter or Instagram of Manziel partying just a few days before a game. The Browns put up with these actions until the end of the 2015-16 season when he was released. While these actions should not be condoned and Manziel is responsible for his own actions, this situation just shows how social media can turn the next big star into another unemployed player.

Another example of social media effecting an athlete’s career comes from just a few days ago in the 2016 NFL Draft. Offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil was one of the best players in the draft and was at one point projected to be the first overall pick. However, about thirty minutes before the draft began, a video of Tunsil smoking marijuana with a gas mask was posted on Tunsil’s Twitter account. Tunsil wasn’t taken until the 13th pick by the Miami Dolphins.

While this isn’t a drastic slide, Tunsil watched two other offensive linemen drafted ahead of him while he was considered to be the best offensive lineman in this year’s draft class by most experts. Tunsil claims that his account was hacked and the video was recorded years ago. Again, actions of this sort should not be condoned but Tunsil most likely passed all of his drug tests and was clean for a while if he was considered to be a definite top ten pick until the start of the draft. While Tunsil’s career has not been ruined, he is an example of how social media could become an issue to many young people, whether they are athletes or not.

A final example of social media having a negative effect on an athlete’s career comes from the Los Angeles Lakers. This past March, a video of Nick Young confessing that he cheated on his fiancée surfaced. The video was recorded by his teammate D’Angelo Russell. The two teammates were hanging out and Russell was asking Young about women he had cheated on his fiancée with. Russell decided to prank Young by filming his confession without Young’s consent. Russell does not know how, but the video was leaked on Twitter for the world to see. Young and his fiancée Iggy Azalea are still together, but the incident created a rift in the Lakers locker room.

The rest of the team sided with Young and had issues trusting Russell because of the incident. The Lakers home crowd even booed Russell when he scored in a game the night after the video was leaked. However, Russell has since apologized for his actions and his apologies have seemingly been accepted by his teammates and the talk of this incident has died down quite a bit. This incident hasn’t ruined anybody’s career or marriage, however, it serves as an example of what could happen if a person isn’t as lucky as Russell and an incident similar to this actually causes long term issues.

While social media is effective in breaking news quickly and globally and for people to see what their friends are doing, it has proved to have a negative effect on many athletes. A simple resolution to this problem, is for not only athletes, but all users of social media to stop because it can be an invasion of privacy and the downfall of somebody’s career or even life.