Prom season is upon us, and the onslaught of photos has begun. But before you hit the “share” button on your friends’ pictures, consider this: If you’re in a class with any of these students, you might want to wait until after their grades have been released.

In a recent study from the University of Missouri, researchers found that posting photos on social media can actually hurt your GPA. The study looked at how sharing on Facebook affected GPAs in one high school over the course of three years. It found that each additional post per month was associated with a 0.07 point decrease in GPA.

That may not seem like much, but it adds up fast: If you post to Facebook 20 times per month so far this year, that’s a whole letter grade that could be gone by June!

Last modified: October 2, 2022