Before prospective students set foot on campus, social media is a convenient tool to preview a place they may end up calling home. These school-run accounts provide a window into a campus potentially thousands of miles away. However, to increase application statistics, it has become the norm, especially at top colleges and boarding schools, including Groton, to create carefully curated posts, stories, and short-form content. In doing so, schools make a campus seem like an idyllic institution, but run the risk of creating a false image of life at their school.
The world of social media is one of polished filters, luxurious aesthetics, and perfectly calibrated posts. It is a world that falsifies and romanticizes reality. Unfortunately, such has become the default of digital communication, both individually and collectively.
To deviate from this approach, therefore, would set us apart from others in a negative way. Any post without the bells and whistles could tarnish our carefully constructed reputation, weakening our standing relative to other schools and turning away prospective students.
Self-preservation aside, Groton’s social media accounts function as a morale booster for students. It amplifies the most celebratory, most flattering aspects of Groton life: championship games, dazzling theater and musical performances, student achievements, and school spirit demonstrations. For students, this emotional branding can serve as poignant reminders of the highlights throughout the year. After all, no one wants to be reminded of the frenzy of exams or the tedium of Monday nights.
However, countless student initiatives are also deserving of media recognition, as are sports teams and individual talents. But more often than not, they fly under the radar, a blip in the school’s memory. Who gets to decide which events make the cut? And what do the proceedings of this selection process look like? Proper, honest representation is not possible when the standard is cherry-picking data to nourish pretty narratives.
Unfortunately, selection bias is only the tip of the iceberg. The manicured image of Groton on social media will fail to match the reality a student experiences on campus. Furthermore, students have qualities that can’t be captured through achievements alone. They are resilient, creative, reckless, and experience failure on a regular basis. The fullness of their lives on the Circle, both the euphoric highs and the most melancholy lows, is not “Instagrammable.”
When glossy narratives become enshrined in school culture, the community becomes dysfunctional. Feelings of inadequacy emerge when agonizing and hectic campus life fails to live up to those preposterous standards. Imposter syndrome festers and stress metastasizes.
Life at Groton is not one-dimensional; it is deeply nuanced, challenging, and transformative. Creating the illusion that our school is “perfect” is neither healthy nor representative. Students are not pure PR machines; we are imperfect creatures with agency and rich inner lives, unable to be captured in static photos and pithy captions. We need to tell the full story, not just a slice of the pie. Honest representation is essential if we want to maintain the authenticity of our school ecosystem.
