Should:

Well, Blugolds, we made it through midterms. But that doesn’t mean things get any easier before finals. Now we’re in the midst of what one of my professors refers to as the “November Frazzles.” Papers, projects, exams. They all seem to pile up right before Thanksgiving.

Instead of something in the news we should be paying attention to, this week, I’m reminding you all to pay attention to yourselves.

Whether you’re a freshmen just getting the hang of college or a senior fighting off senioritis, it won’t hurt to give yourself a little break.

I know we all have a ton of work to do between now and Turkey Day, but we shouldn’t let ourselves get too overwhelmed before the holidays.

I suggest carving out a half hour of your schedule to do something you don’t normally get a chance to do. For some of us, that may seem impossible. Consider using your Facebook procrastination time to call a friend, go for a walk or just relax.

If you’re not too sleep deprived, you might even try waking up a few minutes earlier to make sure you have a little time to yourself. As dreadful as waking up earlier than I already have to sounds, I love the idea of being able to actually sit in my kitchen and have some breakfast and a mug (not travel mug!) of coffee before starting my day.

And as important as it is to make time for yourself, it’s just as important to make time for your friends. Freshmen, you guys are still making your very first college memories. Do you really want them all to be of cram sessions in the library?

Sophomores and juniors, the next couple years are going to fly by, so take advantage of any time you can to spend time with your friends.

For seniors, this is especially important. I’m learning this myself right now. You’ll remember the nights you stayed up to watch movies and talk with your friends more than the nights you pulled an all-nighter to write that paper.

There are still about six months of school left for those of us graduating this spring. That’s plenty of time to slow down and make sure we’re making the most of our college experience.

I would hate for anyone to get to May and realize they missed out on something.

We should be making the memories that matter while we still can.

Shouldn’t:

One of the greatest things about the internet is it gives everyone a voice. One of the worst things about the internet is it gives EVERYONE a voice.

The latest viral blog post is titled “The Case Against Female Self-Esteem” by Matt Forney. It is hideously offensive.

The author makes three points:

— “Most girls have done nothing to deserve self-esteem”

— “Insecurity is integral to femininity”

— “Women don’t want to have high self-esteem”

The things this guy says are out-of-control horrible and I don’t know how he could bring himself to write them.

Because here’s the thing: he was trolling us. A little research on his website reveals he has written a few books with titles like “Confessions of an Online Hustler: How to Make Money and Become an Internet Superstar” and “Trolling for a Living.”

Clearly this guy can’t be taken seriously. And he doesn’t want to be. All he wants is attention. It’s not like he’s trying to raise awareness of the plight of women in this country by using reverse psychology tactics to spark a thoughtful debate.

In a time when everyone with a computer and internet access can create a blog and spew their every thought, it’s hard to find thoughts that actually stimulate genuine conversations and debates. People like Forney are not. Forney’s only goals are stated in the title of one of his books: money and fame.

My guess is Forney expects people to take him seriously. He wants people to read his works and get offended and fired up and share them on social media, if only to point out his stupidity. Because hey, a share is a share. The more people looking at his page the better. It doesn’t matter if those people agree with him. In fact, it’s easier to spout stuff he knows will get a reaction than try to write something genuine and attract the same amount of traffic.

As media consumers, we need to be more mindful of what we’re clicking on and sharing. We’re always going to want to click on things with intriguing titles, but it doesn’t hurt to check out the rest of the page, too. Like I said, it didn’t take long to find Forney’s book titles and figure out what was really going on with that post.

If we’re being smart about how we read things, we’ll know when people want to be taken seriously and when we should just roll our eyes and scroll on by.