What Are We Really Saying?

Over the last few days, I've talked a lot about social media with some of my students. In discussing recent posts my students have seen or have actually posted, we've been examining their tone and message. Most of what has been shared with me has been what I would consider vanilla. But, that's not true for all of it. Some of it is mean. Some of it is incredibly serious. Some of it is posted with intent to hurt, with intent to cause pain to another person.

I've been thinking about how our students use social media to say things they would never say in person and realize kids are not the only ones that do that. My facebook news feed has multiple posts by multiple people expressing concern or even disgust with another adult or group of adults. Current events from around the globe has played a part in all of it too.

At what age does it become acceptable to create posts with the intention to harm? Is that really where we want to have the power of social media harnessed?

Are the negative feelings of one day worth the permanency of a tweet or a facebook post?

What happens two or three days from now when those feelings have passed? Do we expect the intended audience of the post to magically move on and forget it all?

Are the students we work with capable of that?

Are we as adults?

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