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PrimarySecondaryHealth & Wellbeing

Today’s Teens Document Their Whole Lives On Social Media – Could That Ever Be A Good Thing?

I was a teen in the early '90s. I thought getting a perm was a good idea. The fact that I couldn't publish photos of myself for the world to see is a relief

Tamsin Winter
by Tamsin Winter
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I don’t think I’m alone in feeling extremely thankful I grew up without social media. I was a teenager in the early 1990s – I vaguely remember wearing a t-shirt with MC Hammer on it. I ate Pop-Tarts. I thought getting a perm was a good idea. The fact I wasn’t able to publish photographs of myself from this period of my life, for the entire world to see, is a relief.

Use your class page as a way of discussing staying safe. Create an easy way of reporting cyberbullying on your school website. There are predators online – teach young people how to spot, block and report them. Just being present in this world, and modelling positive and appropriate interactions may help to keep them safer.

A chance to speak

In my debut novel, Being Miss Nobody, I explore the double-edged power of social media. The main character, Rosalind, has selective mutism and can’t articulate in front of anyone at school. She’s seen as the weird girl who doesn’t speak. So, she starts an anonymous blog called Miss Nobody. A place she can finally speak up. But, it isn’t long before everything spirals out of control. The book also explores the instinct to hide things happening online from parents and teachers.

I think it’s important schools embrace social media because so many students are immersed in it. And no, they aren’t texting in Standard English, and maybe, in the future, the entire English language will have been replaced with emojis. But utilising social media can make lessons more fun and engaging, and, let’s face it, teaching acronyms has probably never been easier. Because, you know what? Sometimes, all we need is LOL.

Tamsin Winter teaches secondary English. Being Miss Nobody, her debut novel for 10+ readers, is out now and published by Usborne.

Social media can be a vehicle for positive social change. One photograph can be viewed by millions. It’s a tool for self-expression. It can make businesses fail or thrive. It can make you feel less alone. Embracing social media in schools can give young people skills to grow a business, manage a marketing campaign, promote a charitable cause, boost a company’s sales, expose injustice, find people who like their songs, ask for help.

Classroom ideas

Social media provides endless teaching possibilities. You can tweet inspiring quotes, share revision materials, articles, or just retweet everything JK Rowling says. Tweets are only 140 characters, which is quicker than writing a learning objective these days. Update your plenaries by getting students to write a status, tweet or hashtag saying what they’ve learnt.

A class Facebook or Instagram profile can be an online journal. Blog about your subject, and encourage students to comment. Become a YouTuber (it might revolutionise show and tell). Getting your class success stories online might ignite a positive change in some of your students. Social media is a great way of connecting with everyone from authors to athletes; it can hugely inspire students with mental health difficulties, and LGBT students too.

Use your class page as a way of discussing staying safe. Create an easy way of reporting cyberbullying on your school website. There are predators online – teach young people how to spot, block and report them. Just being present in this world, and modelling positive and appropriate interactions may help to keep them safer.

A chance to speak

In my debut novel, Being Miss Nobody, I explore the double-edged power of social media. The main character, Rosalind, has selective mutism and can’t articulate in front of anyone at school. She’s seen as the weird girl who doesn’t speak. So, she starts an anonymous blog called Miss Nobody. A place she can finally speak up. But, it isn’t long before everything spirals out of control. The book also explores the instinct to hide things happening online from parents and teachers.

I think it’s important schools embrace social media because so many students are immersed in it. And no, they aren’t texting in Standard English, and maybe, in the future, the entire English language will have been replaced with emojis. But utilising social media can make lessons more fun and engaging, and, let’s face it, teaching acronyms has probably never been easier. Because, you know what? Sometimes, all we need is LOL.

Tamsin Winter teaches secondary English. Being Miss Nobody, her debut novel for 10+ readers, is out now and published by Usborne.

I’m enormously grateful I couldn’t text boys or stalk celebrities. If social media had existed then, I don’t think I would have got my GCSEs. I would have spent my free time telling the entire internet how annoying my parents were. Thank goodness the only place I could pour out my heartbreak over Bros splitting up was my diary. Just the thought of expressing my teenage angst through continuous updates and selfies gives me nightmares.

Positive changes

But today’s teens are different. They’ve grown up thinking this kind of sharing is normal. They don’t hang Keep Out signs on their bedroom doors or write Top Secret on their diaries. Their iPhones are their not-so-private world. Online chat, blogs, tweets, live streaming – these all provide young people with their own perpetual hot-off-the-press version of Just Seventeen magazine. Only it’s interactive, and they get to update the content. Many young people feel a freedom online that they just don’t get in real life. It’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Social media can be a vehicle for positive social change. One photograph can be viewed by millions. It’s a tool for self-expression. It can make businesses fail or thrive. It can make you feel less alone. Embracing social media in schools can give young people skills to grow a business, manage a marketing campaign, promote a charitable cause, boost a company’s sales, expose injustice, find people who like their songs, ask for help.

Classroom ideas

Social media provides endless teaching possibilities. You can tweet inspiring quotes, share revision materials, articles, or just retweet everything JK Rowling says. Tweets are only 140 characters, which is quicker than writing a learning objective these days. Update your plenaries by getting students to write a status, tweet or hashtag saying what they’ve learnt.

A class Facebook or Instagram profile can be an online journal. Blog about your subject, and encourage students to comment. Become a YouTuber (it might revolutionise show and tell). Getting your class success stories online might ignite a positive change in some of your students. Social media is a great way of connecting with everyone from authors to athletes; it can hugely inspire students with mental health difficulties, and LGBT students too.

Use your class page as a way of discussing staying safe. Create an easy way of reporting cyberbullying on your school website. There are predators online – teach young people how to spot, block and report them. Just being present in this world, and modelling positive and appropriate interactions may help to keep them safer.

A chance to speak

In my debut novel, Being Miss Nobody, I explore the double-edged power of social media. The main character, Rosalind, has selective mutism and can’t articulate in front of anyone at school. She’s seen as the weird girl who doesn’t speak. So, she starts an anonymous blog called Miss Nobody. A place she can finally speak up. But, it isn’t long before everything spirals out of control. The book also explores the instinct to hide things happening online from parents and teachers.

I think it’s important schools embrace social media because so many students are immersed in it. And no, they aren’t texting in Standard English, and maybe, in the future, the entire English language will have been replaced with emojis. But utilising social media can make lessons more fun and engaging, and, let’s face it, teaching acronyms has probably never been easier. Because, you know what? Sometimes, all we need is LOL.

Tamsin Winter teaches secondary English. Being Miss Nobody, her debut novel for 10+ readers, is out now and published by Usborne.

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