Social Media Madness

It has only been three weeks since the start of school and already things have returned to the normal motion of the mid-year mayhem.  What do you think we have to thank for this constant chaos?  Of course, it is the silly social media networking sites!  Facebook, twitter, instagram and snapchat were all great ideas when there were created, and the majority of their content and intent is great.  However, it is when the intent takes the content and uses the power for evil that it creates total turmoil in the middle school building for the better part of the school week.
School counselors can site example after example of students whose lives are turned upside down because of these media sites.  A simple text conversation they were having with a friend is screen shot and shared with the masses.  The intent of the original conversation is twisted and distorted until the real meaning is lost in translation like the telephone game played at elementary sleep overs.  Numerous hours of academic classes are lost due to students refusing to come to school, talking with counselors, or just skipping classes.  Theses students fall behind in their classwork and become segregated from their peer groups as their situations increase the anxiety until the next incident of teenage drama comes along.  Fortunately for some of these students, it only takes a week or two.  For others, it is months of alienation and seclusion by their peer groups.

So, what do we do about it?  COMMUNICATE, Communicate, communicate!!!  Check your students phones, computers, and ipads.  I know that student privacy is a sticky subject with many adults, but I am going to get on the soapbox here and stand up for the adults for a change.  You own everything the student has, and it is better to check it early and often, then find out too late to do anything.  Ask any parent of a student who has lost a child to suicide.  I am almost positive they will tell you to check.  Parents, talk to your students, and then check to verify.  It doesn't mean you don't believe them, it just means that you care about them.  Parents, you have to have their back. If they can fool you, then who do they have to count on when life really gets hard....like HIGH SCHOOL!