The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.
by Grace Savage
Staff Writer
Instagram is a social media platform that allows users to post photos and connect with friends. However, people with Instagram can create multiple accounts, which happens to include the famous “Bradley Bad Parking” page.
"Bradley Bad Parking" is an Instagram account with various photos of poor parking jobs in Bradley’s parking lot. Whether they're done on accident or purpose, students don't miss the opportunity to snap a picture and send it to the page.
However, with this account quickly rising into popularity, it seems like students are parking poorly on purpose to get their vehicle on the page.
So, with this thought in her mind, this Jag Times member goes around asking what students and staff think about the page. There seems to be two sides to the argument.
On one side, people believe the Instagram page is a problem. This is the case for Gaby Hardiski (11), who says, "I think it's a problem because some people are just parking badly on purpose and that creates problems. You're eliminating parking spots, and people can't park." She explains that some drivers take up multiple parking spaces to be humorous, sometimes causing others to find another spot to park. "Just having your car being called bad on social media is a little degrading, to be honest." New drivers could see this as an insult, or even get upset.
On the other side, there’s people who don't see a problem with the page. Just like Eric Manring (12), who explains, "I don't have a problem with the Bradley bad parking page, I find it funny." Most students, whether they find the account obnoxious or not, find it funny. It can be, at times, as long as no harm is done. "I find no problem with it because license plates are blurred out and if you want any photos removed you can just DM them and have your car removed from the page." In the description of the account, it reads, 'if you want a picture of your car taken down, dm me.' So, yes, it's clear that the person can choose to have their car taken off of the page, but some might argue that the damage would already be done.
To break the tie, Madame Lawrence declares, "I think when I first heard about it and heard students describing some of the pictures that were on it I thought it was a little funny, but, as I thought about it a little more, I don't believe it's encouraging the best behavior out of students." Her opinion is mixed, but it's clear that students and staff don't want this to turn into a huge issue.
With the account quickly rising in popularity, the page has gotten more than 800 followers. That equals about 100 likes per post, but there could be a lot more views that we don't know of. Will this account continue to thrive with each funny post, or will the administration say something about it first? Only time will tell.