It was five
years ago that I opened my first Twitter account, @SalineSPED. Being a new Twitter user, I didn’t
really know what to expect. Thinking back, I didn’t hold out much hope for the
platform, but I wanted to learn.
Five years is a LONG time in the world of social media. Five years ago, most of my current students
were in elementary school, and most did not yet own their first cell
phone. Fast forward to 2013, and
almost all of the students have a smart phone. That smart phone is equipped with many applications that
allow students to access social media at the touch of an icon. Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, SnapChat,
Vine, Reddit, LinkedIN, GoogleChat, Pinterest, MySpace, Tagged, Ning, and many
others are available to students instantly. So much powerful technology, yet so little teaching has
taken place with regard to using the technology appropriately.
In the past
five years, I have learned what a phenomenal tool Twitter is for learning,
growing, and discovering. I have
connected with educators in nearly every state and formed online relationships
with companies, school districts, teachers, principals, superintendents, and
school board members all across the county, and even internationally. This growing Professional Learning
Network provides me with updates in school legislation, curricular changes,
lesson plans, resources for grants and funding, service opportunities and sometimes,
a sounding board. If I have a
question about Special Education assistive technology, law, policy, or
practice, I can post a question to my Twitter feed and within minutes, I have
several resources from which to draw.
In short, I’ve learned that Twitter is a powerful way to connect with
like-minded educators and to learn from them.
Three years ago, I opened a second Twitter account, @NEWSalineALTHS. My thinking was that this would be a fabulous way to communicate quickly with parents about school events, school cancellations, and schedule changes, or to post relevant information about parenting teens. I follow nearly 1000 people on my @NEWSalineALTHS account and over 600 of those followers also follow me. My tweets are my own and my tweets are not protected. Why? For the simple reason that I use Twitter to learn. I have nothing to hide and I welcome comments, retweets, and replies to my posts. It is a powerful venue for learning, growing, and connecting.
I was
hopeful that others within the school setting would realize the value of using
Twitter appropriately, but unfortunately, the Twitter-verse has morphed into
something that I really didn’t see coming.
Maybe I was
naïve, or maybe overly optimistic.
What about
those teens that I mentioned earlier? Many, well, most, have Twitter accounts. From what I’ve seen, most use Twitter
as a way to quickly chat up a friend, to post a status, or to comment on
something for which they have a strong opinion. Rarely are their tweets embedded with other links to
relevant information.
Occasionally, a picture is posted, but the pictures are for one purpose:
to draw attention to a superficial personal attribute, social gathering, or new
piece of clothing. It’s a
cyber-predator’s haven since most of the teens do not protect their
tweets. Pictures of teenaged girls
in provocative or suggestive attire clutter the Twitter feeds of most of these
young people. In their naivety, the
far-reaching negative affects of these posts are far from their minds. What
matters, so it seems, is the ability to instantly connect with a peer, and to
draw attention to oneself, whether or not that attention is positive. It’s faster than an email, less
cumbersome than FaceBook, and tweets can be composed and posted within a couple
seconds on a smart phone.
I worry about this use of a fabulous technology. I worry that students are unaware that others, many not as forgiving as I am, are reading those posts. I worry about what potential employers or college admissions officials will think when they read what students are posting. I worry about the message they are sending out to the world. Is cursing online EVER okay? Is name calling a good use of the technology? When – and why - did Twitter become a slam book?
Ironically, and almost comically, I do not take offense at the negative posts that students feel compelled to write about me. Teens need to experiment, grow, and assert themselves. Students claim that they have First Amendment rights and can post whatever they would like. Yes, to a point. When directing a post toward an individual that is potentially libelous, you cross a line where your First Amendment rights are no longer applicable. When you use Twitter to post an untruth or potentially defamatory comment, you put yourself at risk. When you post that you are using drugs, engaging in underage drinking, looking for the next party, or where and with whom you’re having sex, the infinitely large world wide web is watching and reading.
The fact
that I read your posts was met with some surprise and dissention this past
week. Why do I read your Twitter
feed, students? Because I
care. Because I think you’re
better than what you’re posting.
And truly, because someone needs to monitor and guide you when you’re
headed astray. And unfortunately,
you are one step ahead of what most of your parents are monitoring. Not all, but most. The digital footprint that you’re
leaving is forever. Protecting
your tweets does not prevent others from reading what you’ve posted. Be wise. Be better. Be above the
fray. Use Twitter for the purpose
of learning, growing and becoming better people.
And finally,
help restore my faith in the power of using social media for what is good and
what is right.
