Twitter Page Allegedly Shows L.I. High School Students Drinking, Half Naked
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Twitter page featuring photos of what appears to be Long Island high school students engaging in drunken activities is under fire.
Many pictures posted on the LIPartyStories Twitter page show kids half naked, lying on the floor next to their own vomit, urinating, apparently appearing passed out on sidewalks and toilets, and in sexually compromising situations, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.
In some cases, their names and high schools are displayed.
As CBS 2's Andrea Grymes reported, the feed features party pics from towns across Nassau and Suffolk counties.
And on Thursday afternoon, several tweets acknowledging the day's news coverage appeared on the page.
"The news was trying to get people to unfollow @LIPartyStories all they did was help spread the word," one retweeted item read.
The account says people send in photos and they tweet them, simply for entertainment.
"Kids do stupid things. We've probably all done stupid things, now you've got social media to be able to publish to the world how dumb you are forever," Port Washington parent Peter Winick told Grymes.
But Marg Lee, of DEDICATEDD -- a nonprofit organization that educates about the dangers of drinking and driving, said the situation is dire.
"These kids are literally taking their life in their hands, clearly they don't know that," Lee told Hall. "Often times when a kid drinks too much his or her friends will leave them and the kid will die from alcohol poisoning."
Lee said the kids will live to regret having their pictures posted on the page.
"Once it's out in cyberspace there's no taking it back," Lee said. "If an employer is going to be looking for someone to represent their company you're not going to want somebody that's been all over the web."
"I've raised three children, if I went onto that Twitter account and saw one of my kids, they'd be grounded until they were 35," Lee told 1010 WINS.
An expert said the Twitter account is a perfect storm of problems.
"Teens who are not using good judgment and parents who are clueless," psychologist and author Dr. Susan Bartell told Grymes.
Dr. Bartell said most teens are not thinking that colleges or future employers might find their digital trail.
"Once someone else has forwarded it to somebody else, it's out there in cyberspace and you can never get it back," she told Grymes.
Dr. Bartell said the part of the brain that controls judgment is last to develop -- typically in the mid-20s.
That's why she said it is so important for parents to be active and aware, especially when it comes to drinking and social media.
Brianna Bellomo, a high school freshman, said those in the pictures need to smarten up.
"I would never do anything like that, but I wouldn't put it on the Internet for everyone to see," she said.
Suffolk County Police said they are aware of the Twitter account, but noted it would only be used as part of a larger investigation if someone filed a formal complaint.
The page has more than 21,000 followers.
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