“YALE CLASS OF 2015,” the news feed shouts. “MIT 2015!” “Bye to Boston, Hello Atlanta!” The mind of a senior who hasn’t gotten into college yet is a balloon stretched taut by the tension of online notifications, then punctured by a thousand Facebook status needles.

At a time when even Wayland teachers are being instructed to try to alleviate the college application stress, the Internet is making the situation worse.

Every year, the December WHSPO newsletter contains a message to parents and students, asking them to keep applications private. Bringing applications into public, says Guidance Department Chair Marybeth Sacramone, only adds to students’ stress.

“We would ask that you continue to keep your classrooms as ‘college-free zones,’” an e-mail from the guidance department to high school teachers reads. “Although many [students] will have good news to share, we never know who is right beside that student agonizing over bad news they just heard, or because they have not begun their own future planning process yet.”

Controlling the classrooms, however, is no longer enough. Nowhere is the likelihood of a senior getting stressed out higher than on Facebook.

A senior’s Facebook status almost always reflects his or her college situation; acceptance is writ large in capitalized exclamations, rejection in silence. The success of others strikes doubt and worry into readers’ hearts, and silence only serves to make the acceptances more prominent.

With nothing but “I GOT INTO COLLEGE,” as far as the eye can see, the message on Facebook is, “Get in, or else.”

Facebook isn’t the only area where the Internet is adding to stress. Colleges themselves, by notifying applicants online, are building tension. Many colleges now send an e-mail message specifying when they will post their answer, down to the minute, days in advance.

Before this practice began, students couldn’t know when exactly the letter would come, so they couldn’t stress themselves out as much. Then, they’d know their answer as soon as they saw the letter, completely dispensing with suspense.

Not so with online notification. Students wait anxiously for the hour when they can rush online and learn their fates, working themselves into a frenzy of suspense. I know from experience that schoolwork falls by the wayside during the stressful days leading up to a notification.

There is a symbolic effect of the Internet’s new influence on applications: this year’s so-far diminutive Wayland Wall of Shame. The Wall of Shame has always been a comfort for struggling seniors, a place where they can post their rejection letters amongst the collective disappointment of the grade.

Seniors silently commiserate with each other by posting on the Wall, and the Wall itself is a vivid reminder that not getting in is part of life, not the end of the world. Yet this year, the Wall stands nearly empty for lack of paper acceptance letters. Rejection has become digital.