Social media in school- good or bad?

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 Hello all!

This week I've fallen down the philosophical rabbit hole of the use of social media in and by schools (this can range from colleges to high schools). I had the idea when my brother was sitting in the living room and discussing a former high school student in his class with me after she posted on their height schools social media page. It had shocked me a bit to know that people even still interact or follow social media from their high schools, my brother graduated 5 years ago. For me high school was something Ide rather forget. It wasn't bad, just not important enough for me to really bother with people and events from that time period, I'm a very different person from who I was back then. One of the things I struggled with was social media in high school. I was always desperate for attention and approval from my peers so I wasted a good portion of my time on Facebook, Instagram and snapchat. I was always comparing myself to others and wanting to look more important or "cooler" then I actually was. It took me until my sophomore year of college to realize what a waste of time that was and that I should just enjoy my life without feeling the need to show it to others 24/7. These ended up being some of the best years of my life. When thinking about this I tend to wonder how the schools use of social media itself may affect the students. I think if used correctly it can be an efficient way to share important events and other announcements that the school needs or wants to get across. But that's where I start to wonder, if its run by the students, can it be warped into something much more sinister? When I was a kid I had seen tons of those teen drama shows where the high school newspaper was sued to spread gossip and bully others. Of course I wasn't in high school then so I don't know how accurate that actually was (its a drama show after all) but growing up in the age in which we were doing the switch from the ever growing irrelevant newspaper to the Facebook and twitter, I saw the effects of what unsolicited social media could do. Thankfully our teachers were pretty keen on controlling what was put out, but you could tell that there was always an exorbitant amount of favoritism for certain students. I think this usually drops off in college, but from what my brothers told me (he went to a small crime and justice school in upstate NY and me a state run art school in Boston MA) that is not in fact the case. Social media favoritism runs supreme. Although I cannot say if this is any different then how it was in the school newspaper, it does make me wonder if this could be a can of worm's that may be dangerous to open if not handled carefully. After all, we've all seen the terrifying powers social media can hold over even the most modest and respectful of people, so how could this affect our kids?

Comments

  1. Samantha MatherneOctober 17, 2023 at 5:51 PM

    You bring up an excellent point about social media use and what's spread through social media pertaining to schools and students. Middle and high school students are taught these days that what they post online could follow them later in life in the professional world and more, but I wonder if they're taught about the potential effects of social media on their mental states and relationships. (I don't have any children, so I cannot comment on the state of this in my area schools.) What concerns me, though, is not just teaching about these concepts to tweens and teens in relation to social media but teaching them in a way that cause students to actually care and get invested. If they do not care or think the topics are "uncool", then they may not even fully digest the important points that could truly benefit them.

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