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Darkly? I think the big social media companies do not really want young people to be "empowered digital citizens" or "people who can set boundaries, and make wise choices about the online spaces they participate in"
They want them to be like many adults, kind of helpless and unable to look away from a kind of social media that makes their mental health worse while wasting their time and selling them garbage.
They have carved out little spaces on tumblr and instagram.
But they also use discord and things like that a lot.
Discord kind of scares me because who knows what's going on in there? I hope that the older students take to heart our lessons about setting boundaries and asking for help.
But this isn't a new problem, it's always been part of growing up.
I mean the "secret club for nerds" was not great either but at least it wasn't concentrating social power in the hands of the already socially skilled and powerful.
But, that's what's going on now. Your shy socially awkward kid may at best find some kindred souls online, but at worst?
A chatbot may fill their head with nonsense or they will get preyed on by internet creeps.
And the later was already happening when I was young.
A school should at least set one good example.
As a teacher who is always looking out for kids who struggle with "socializing" the part about being shut out really bothers me.
When I was in HS internet was a secret world for a few dozen nerdy kids who knew about it. Now it's more like the socially savvy kids figure it out, and even manage to use it rather responsibly, but the kids who are more like I was... they have no idea what's going on or where to start and they are just left out.
That sucks.
I feel like the word "terrorism" has become meaningless sometimes. And it seems to be a "thought stopping word" --
But I also agree with you. The purpose of hate crimes is terror. To tell people they don't belong and eliminate them as equal participants in society.
Which is exactly what all of these Nazis have been saying over and over without push-back from enough people ... while some are just silent and others invite them over for dinner.
Not good.
Don't take blocking personally unless you were having a real conversation with the person and they felt the need to tell you why.
I think some people block me because I "post too much" -- and you know? That is fine. Because I do.
That said? I feel like this is coming. It may take like a decade but schools will figure it out.
The most ugly school social media problems happen when students have an "unofficial official" network and no one knows about it but some mean girls/guys.
When it's just one teacher saying "set up this thing" it just sounds like more work.
You need to get the admins on board.
Make it the place where the scores from the sports teams are announced, where the vote totals from the elections are posted, that is make it part of the school and they'll care about it.
My students love the idea, it's the admins and other teachers who I can't get excited.
If your school culture is mostly right and you don't have many problems with bullying you won't see it in the online space.
If there is a problem it seems like the problem needs to be addressed at the root. In the classroom and halls.
"But imagine the tech team and the moderation needed"
They already use email, put up fliers, and do many things with communication that schools have ways to manage.
"Moderation" starts in the classroom. My students know how I expect them to treat each other. If anything it would be easier than some of the "she said x" but I didn't HEAR her say it so it's harder to be fair I deal with already.
But, mostly, the social media will just reflect the existing school culture.
What is more true is the adults don't want to bother to set it up.
Just like no one really wants to chaperone the dance.
But we have figured out that NOT having the dance is worse.
It will leave some kids locked out socially, others will create events that are too adult or unsafe.
We need to show them how it could work. Part of the obstacle to doing this is how few *adults* know how to use social media in a constructive way. So maybe we all need lessons.
I've had people hear this idea scoff saying "teens will never use it" I don't think this is true. They ALL come to the dances, even though they are "so boring" -- and I think at some level they would feel better having a safer place to express themselves in photos, videos and writing for each other without every creep on the internet looking in on it.
Will some teens still find internet "after parties" Yes.
But right now we are basically saying you can go to the afterparty or NOTHING.
5/5
I think that schools should take on this role.
You could have a server for a school with mastodon, but not connected to the rest of the fedi, you could network with similar schools. Just like at the school dance the teachers are around so there are limits to how it's used.
Teens could post about their soccer games, advertise their clubs, make jokes, practice using the medium wisely.
When teens post to social media they care about their friends at school seeing the post most. 4/
Right now teens go off into the wild to find a place on social media and adults are rightly alarmed. Companies like Facebook, Instagram, X etc. have no interest in "modeling a healthy online environment" or "teaching young people to use social media constructively" -- instead everyone is acting like simply banning kids from using phones and scanning IDs will make social media go away.
No one is asking or answering the question: How and when will young people learn to use social media?
3/
Schools dances, office holiday parties can be kind of corny and boring. So many people have input on what can and cannot be done that you might end up with a very limited and boring event.
But, these things are still very important (the office parties less so, I think)-- they have an "educational purpose"
And this is why schools need to come to grips with running social media intranets.
2/
Why do schools have dances? Why do many high schools host parties, sometimes inter-school parties at the school?
A school isn't just a machine that puts knowledge into people's brains, it's an organization of people. And those people will want to celebrate together from time to time. This WILL happen. "official" events can be more inclusive.
But also for young people it's a part of social education, providing some baseline for how you interact with other people.
1/
The name of a recent guest of Tucker Carlson (and others) has become a national point of "debate" and that many people even now know who this person is at all is kind of a massive failure.
There is nothing to debate with a person who says "This is a White Christian Nation" they are just wrong.
They are messing with these BS theories for the most meager political gains. And we can't all live together or do anything together if that kind of hateful nonsense is taken seriously.
The way this just targeted the most ordinary innocent people just for who they were reminds me of the 2022 shooting in Buffalo where the murderer was some guy on "Great Replacement Theory" nonsense.
We don't know what the Bondi shooter was thinking but the action targeting just "Jewish People" makes it likely (again) that this was eliminationist rhetoric.
And it's been spewing unchecked in the US as of late.