The Controversy of the Social Network

Social networking (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.) has become a common communication tool for people of all ages. The Pew Research Center (2014, January) found that 74% of online adults are using social media. The number show a sharp decline in use for the older generations, but across income and education levels they are fairly steady. "Everyone" is using social media. It has become the norm for our society. Teenagers are a bit different, however. The same research group shows that while 93% of teenagers are online, only 55% of them have created a social networking profile. This seems to be because of teens becoming "multi-channel" - users of multiple different communication tools (instant messaging, cell phone, text message, etc.). Social media has its hold on adults, but the next generation of teenager is branching out.

The multi-channel teen can hang out in person and still use other media.

So to the question of social media in schools. What's all the fuss about? There are some clear issues with adapting social media to the classroom. Some of them stem from teacher student interaction. The Alberta Teachers Association wrote an article detailing some of those issues. Inappropriate posting seems to be at the heart of it. To me, that seems to be an easy hurdle to overcome. My personal rule with social media is to not friend students. Period. I will allow them to friend me once they graduate, but even then I limit my contact with them as acquaintances. Students (and graduates) thrive on recognition and if having a friend request accepted upon graduation will bolster them, then I'm all for it. Other than that, we are not friends - I have no need to share my random quips or life events or directed rants with my students. That's not entirely true - I share those things with them in the classroom. Voice communication is far easier for students to translate than text communication. Reading a post on Facebook comes with the emotion of the reader not with the emotion of the author. Sarcasm is wasted in text communication.

In the classroom, you may choose to use something like Edmodo or Kidblog as a tool for learning. These 'social media' platforms are controlled and limited by the teacher. The same pitfalls can apply however, if the teacher is not careful. As teachers, we are under tremendous scrutiny. We have to be pinnacles of the community in our public life. When our personal lives bleed into our public lives, we can run into problems. The National Educators Association discusses several cases where teachers lost their positions for inappropriate actions on social media.

The other side of the coin is how students are going to interact with each other. Cyber-bullying is the buzzword that the media tosses around. But, teens have reported bullying in a variety of contexts. The CDC reports that between 9% and 35% of teens have experienced online bullying compared to 4% to 21% experiencing face-to-face aggression.

CDC statistics on electronic aggression. 

Here's one of the key points, however. "Although the news media has recently devoted a lot of attention to the potential dangers of technology, face-to-face verbal and physical aggression are still far more common than electronic aggression." (CDC, 2008) The data shows an increase in electronic aggression over the years, but the problem isn't that students have access to social media - the problem is that students are being aggressive period. These students need to be educated in how to treat each other regardless of what delivery system they're using.

So, with all that information, what's my point? Social media isn't the devil. It's a tool like any other. When a tool becomes harmful, we don't take them away, we educate people on how to use them properly. Students behave however they behave regardless of the platform they are on.

Until next time . . .