I didn’t truly comprehend the hyper obsession that our generation holds in knowing everything about everyone until September of my senior year. As a senior I have made it through a global pandemic, online schooling and climate change; however, the ritual of posting senior girls’ dresses in the Facebook group takes the cake. 

Now, I will admit,  I enjoy seeing what everyone is up to, and as this is the class of 2022’s first dance, not to mention Staples’ first homecoming dance in years, I, too, have frantically asked around, unsure of what to wear. 

But as all of the girls in the Senior Girls’ Facebook group know, posting a picture of your homecoming dress doesn’t ease up the collective anxiety surrounding this decision. Posting a picture of your dress (or dresses) is a screeching receipt linking your profile to the $98 mini dress, so that when some “entitled beast” shows up to the dance in the same dress, you will have the entire senior class ready to bash her via word of mouth. 

Just as there is digital documentation of who has a monopoly over which dress, there are also the comments that follow. Comments like “LOVE” or “amazing” beneath each portrait redeem my faith in the kindness of our student body; however, beneath those words of encouragement, every now and again, you will get one that reads, “I bought that.” The issue at hand lies here, where one student publicizes the “epic betrayal” that has occurred in front of the entire grade, succumbing said victim to choose between buying a dress that they really love, or choosing to avoid the hatred they will receive. The phrase “great minds think alike” has never been typed in a post. 

I am not associating posting your homecoming dress in the Facebook group with what is wrong with the world. I am merely stating that doing so should not lead to being ostracized if your dress happens to be liked by a fellow peer. It is clear that we all have the best intentions but like everything else in social media, those intentions can quickly come across as malicious or hurtful. Sharing your dress with the surrounding community can send a positive message of girls supporting other girls, but turning this into yet another cut throat competition is beneficial to no one.