Social media platforms have exploded over the years and I can admit that I am an oversharer on both Facebook and Instagram. My Facebook account is private, but I do allow more people from my life onto this platform. I often share pictures of my family and accomplishments that my kids have. On the other hand I have tried to keep my Instagram more for people that I actually have regular contact with, but often share the same information on both platforms. I can totally relate to the article about having multiple identities online, as my daughter has two Instagram accounts, one for everyone and one that she chooses people on it more wisely. My children also utilize the “private story” option on snapchat, where you can chose who has rights to viewing these snapchats.
As a parent I often hear “I’m not a Pinterest mom”, it saddens me to think that along with the pressures of being a parent we are also concerned at how other parents are judging us and how we do things. I often made Pinterest inspired Valentine’s and birthday party ideas for my kids when they were younger, which eventually dwindled away for my third child, but I never felt like I was doing it to keep up to anyone else or to be a Pinterest mom, I had fun doing it. We need to start being less judgmental and show compassion as these are all things that take a mental toll on all of us.
It is so easy to get wrapped up in what people post on their social media sites and believing that they have the perfect life or that they try to portray something that they are not. I have personally struggled with this throughout the last couple years of my life. I found as a family relationship began to break down I felt like I was being consistently slapped with things posted on their social media. It really started to take a toll on both my physical and mental health, which lead to me being quite ill, it was at this point that I decided to mute this person on my social media, I knew deleting them would create a bigger mess so I went through this avenue, and man did it help make a difference. Although this person insisted on liking/loving my posts which I still feel is their way to getting to me, so I have had to learn to ignore and let it be. Through all of this I can see how teenagers and young adults that are not ready for these types of decisions struggle and get caught up in it all. It is so important to talk to our people if we see something different happening in their everyday lives.
Another case of cyber shaming happened to a family friend in the school system a couple years ago. This teacher posted on their school sign with their students about how Farming chemicals negatively affects habitats. Although this is a part of our school curriculum and is a unit that they discuss, the farming community of this small town and surrounding communities was up in arms. Just a simple google search right now brought up a list of news outlets that were involved in this sign business. I watched as this teacher and their family were put through the ringer online, and how much it affected them. This teacher eventually left their job at this school and relocated with their young family as the public shaming became too much and took a huge mental health toll on them. This is just another case of people blowing up a mistake and creating chaos in an individuals life. But is it really a mistake when it’s something that we are supposed to teach? As educators these are going to be hurdles that we are going to have to deal with ourselves-everyone is watching our choices and you never know when someone is going to use them against us. I don’t say this this to scare anyone, but I believe that it is something that needs to be said so we are prepared.
This is a problem that isn’t going away so we all need to be aware and educate ourselves and our future generations to maybe take a step in the right direction towards seeing change.
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