What does Social Media Mean to Me?

Just a quick little video to briefly showcase some of the relationships I have with social media.

Twitter and YouTube are definitely my top spots. I don't tweet a lot, but I do enjoy stealing ideas from teachers who are far better and more clever than me on Twitter. YouTube is a hub of education, not really "social media" per say, unless you count the (often wonderful) comment sections! Nonetheless, I think YouTube has probably made the biggest impact on education... there is literally a how to video for ANYTHING on there. I have students use it all the time, all in a gambit to get them to take control of their learning, and to make them into useful, productive, and self-sufficient little people!

I also enjoy staying up to date with my friends on SnapChat, it's crazy how easy it is to communicate, share some laughs, and just basically be there via videos, voice, and whatever on a platform like SnapChat. A friend is never too far away, literally no matter how far they actually are, they are sort of just there, in your phone. Can't wait until we have those implanted into our eyes so we can go hands free. 

Of course, these are the positive effects of social media on my life. 

The negatives would be... you are sort of always connected. It's far too easy to waste time. Faaaar too easy. Students experience this, but, so do teachers, or at least I think they do!

Probably the most terrible thing I can think of regarding social media is it's capacity to "remember everything"... as in everything you share online is there forever. Countless times we've seen the story played out in the media... somebody famous said something silly/ill advised/something they no longer believe x number of years ago, and it gets puked out from the past to tarnish some present moment. This is something we really need to address with students, is the horrible capacity of the internet to remember everything, but, more importantly, how some people can't wrap their minds around the idea that people do, and can grow and change over time... and some opinion you held for 3 days 15 years ago may no longer apply to what you believe today. 

Last negative about social media: it's pretty damn hard to have any privacy nowadays. If you have a phone, credit card, or social media accounts, you literally are tracked everywhere. 

Below you'll find a video just posted on MSNBC, where they interview Edward Snowden on privacy. What amazing timing, as I write this it literally came up in my YouTube feed. Thanks, Google!​

OK, internet people, stay curious!

Cheers,

M