As a teacher-librarian (TL) I feel privileged to have so many opportunities to engage or connect with students on the topics that interest them. Given the content-heavy and assessment-orientated nature of our curriculum, this is something that I often didn’t feel I had enough time to do as a classroom teacher. These conversations are usually quite short: a quick chat as I issue out a book, a comment or two as I offer a recommendation or a brief discussion about a particular series. Even so, these moments are opportunities to connect with students in a casual way where the conversation has nothing to do with schoolwork and the student is free to discuss whatever interests them in a non-judgemental way.
I recently had one such interesting conversation with a student about social media. The student (let’s call them Sam) was borrowing several books from a popular young adult series and we were discussing our favourite characters. Proudly, Sam mentioned that they had been communicating via social media with one of the “characters” – well, the actor who played this character in the movie adaptation – and that the actor had actually responded! Alarm bells started ringing in my head. In my experience, getting responses from authors and actors on social media is quite rare and yet, this student was having entire conversations with this person. Sam continued talking, “…and do you know what their [screen] name is on social media? It’s [character name] is a god!” The alarm bells in my head reached a crescendo. Sure, some actors could be conceited but I didn’t think any of them were so narcissistic as to proclaim themselves as gods. “Sam, are you sure this is the real person?” I asked. The response was immediate. “Yes, of course - it’s their photo on the profile!” Sam’s naïve confidence astonished me. “But Sam, anyone can use photos from the Internet and people do create fake profiles. This probably isn’t the real person.” Confusion. “I suppose…” Concerned, I continued, “Just be careful what you post online. Don’t give away any personal information.” By the end of our conversation, Sam was having doubts as to the identity of the person they’d been talking to and promised to be careful. Even so, I was concerned enough to mention the conversation to another member of staff, who followed up with Sam and their parents. It’s easy to assume that, as “digital natives”, our students are competent users of social media. And while, technically, that is true – they do know how to operate on social media platforms (and how do so effectively, just consider the advent of Instragram influencers) – this is very different to being able to evaluate the content they see. Are students able to identify which posts are sponsored and which are not? (Try this for yourself here – I scored 8.5 out of 11). Are they able to identify misinformation, bias and fake news? (Test your fake news detecting skills here) Do they interact with others online in a safe and responsible way? Given the prevalence and unfortunate success of online scams (e.g. catfishing and online dating scams), it’s clear that even adults struggle to evaluate information they encounter via social media or interactions they have online. I don't think that banning social media is the answer. There’s no evidence that such a ban would be effective and social media does have the potential to be a force for good. But clearly we need to educate our young people on how to use social media ethically and responsibly and in a way that is healthy. The big question is how do we do this?
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21/10/2019 10:48:45 pm
I believe the answer rests in to prepare this generation to events and situations where we may have never experienced, but we can foresee.
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Being a teacher librarian sounds like a wonderful way to connect with students on a different level. It’s very lucky you had that chat with Sam and picked up on that potentially dangerous scenario. I find it so scary that students are not educated enough on online safety and that these things can still happen. Thank you for sharing that test! I just took it and scored a 10.5. Maybe that test is something they could start showing in classes to teach students media literacy…
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AuthorHi, I'm Kelly. I'm a teacher-librarian at a Queensland high school with an interest in the lives of the young people I work with and the issues affecting them. ArchivesCategories
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