Likes, Lies, and Learning: An Educator’s Approach to Social Media

Like it or lump it, social media doesn’t seem to be going anywhere; unless you believe in the speculated Solar Maximum Internet Apocalypse of ’25. For the Gen Z and Alpha students we teach, Web 2.0 is embedded in how they interact, learn, and view the world. As educators, we can no longer merely acknowledge social media’s primary position in their lives. Instead, we must help our students critically and purposefully navigate a digital landscape of likes and lies.

In the documentaries I viewed this week – The Story of Content: Rise of the New Marketing and TikTok: Eating Disorders, Racism, Censorship, and Distorted Realities – social media’s duality was fully displayed. Both documentaries highlight how students can use these platforms to connect, learn, and even profit. However, as the Four Corners TikTok documentary reveals, social media also exposes them to mis/disinformation, problematic filter bubbles, limiting echo chambers, and serious security and mental health risks. It has never been more important to help students build their digital literacy skills.

“But they’ve never known a world away from technology. They know more about their phone than me!” A common argument I’ve heard from parents (and teachers) before.

Ah yes, our so-called “Digital Natives,” Prensky’s term for the generations born into Web 1.0 and 2.0. I think many of us can agree that just because students know how to use social media doesn’t mean they understand it (or its ramifications). Prensky eventually shifted to Digital Wisdom, recognizing that being born into technology isn’t enough. Likewise, it will never be enough for us to merely limit student screen time. We have to help students develop digital wisdom to navigate the online world purposefully, critically, and ethically.

But how?!

Beyond the Scroll: Ribble’s Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship in Action

As a former OLST (online learning support teacher) and LOCCSD Edtech committee member, I am continuously surprised how few educators (at least in my division) are aware of the SK School’s Digital Citizenship Planning Guide. Largely shaped by Ribble’s Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship, it provides a thorough framework for teachers and schools.

• The Great Social Media Divide (Digital Access): In the Story of Content, the video shows how evolving digital platforms shape access to creation and information, connecting consumers directly with the digital stories of companies. However, if the pandemic taught me anything, it’s that many students lack devices and reliable Wi-Fi. The pros and cons of social media aside, the digital divide prevents many of our students from engaging in these online narratives.
  • Classroom strategies: Conduct classroom tech equity check-ins that outline who is left out of the social media narratives. The Four Corner’s TikTok documentary further shows how diverse voices – often black, 2SLGBTQ+, and/or disabled – are silenced or shadow banned. After reading or viewing anything, ask your students: Whose voice is missing?

• Online Persona Monetization (Digital Commerce): The Four Corner’s TikTok documentary reveals the troubling reality of social media companies monetizing user attention, further employing invasive algorithms to maximize engagement. I support the creativity of participatory culture, but many students don’t realize they are not just consumers or creators. Unfortunately, they’re more frequently products at the mercy of social media platforms.
  • Classroom strategies: Something as simple as reading the fine print (gasp) in a platform’s terms and conditions (hello, Snapchat!) is often eye-opening for students. Having students analyze the targeted ads on their social media feeds further reveals the nature of data tracking and biometric profiling. An influencer marketing debate can be a fun – often heated – way for students to consider how paid sponsorships impact the reliability of influencer endorsements.

• Don’t Read the Comment Section (Digital Communication and Collaboration): The Story of Content demonstrates the power of digital storytelling and branding, primarily highlighting the positives of content collaboration. While it’s good for students to see how social media can connect us, they must also learn how it amplifies division, spreads misinformation, and pushes cyberbullying.
  • Classroom strategies: Using Liljedahl’s Thinking Classroom design, I have students complete a mock online tone exercise, experimenting with digital communication and revealing how easily it can be misinterpreted. Something I hope to achieve with my class this year is working with another student group in a different country to model positive digital interactions.

• Infinite Internet (Digital Etiquette): As the TikTok documentary shows, our internet actions can be far-reaching with long-term consequences. Australian TikTok influencer Rory Eliza may post her every waking moment to 5 million+ subscribers, but does she or our students understand that a digital footprint is forever? What we say or do matters.
  • Classroom strategies: Another way to use Thinking Classroom design (with no access to actual cell phones) is playing “Would You Say It In Person?” Students view (school-appropriate) online comments and discuss the potential face-to-face impact. Or, having students search their own name – a practice first shown to me by Dr. Katia – is often enough to stun students into realizing their current online exposure.
• Separating Fact From Fiction (Digital Fluency): Both documentaries show how easily online narratives – positive and negative – can spread on social media. The Four Corner’s TikTok documentary reveals the platform’s addictive algorithm that promotes harmful beauty standards and racist content, while censoring already marginalized communities.
  • Classroom strategies: CIVIX and MediaSmarts have great resources that teach students how to fact-check and debunk false online claims by using reliable sources and lateral reading strategies. Showing and discussing AI and Deepfake content is equally important for student critical thinking (in an increasingly distorted world).

• I Want to Speak to My Lawyer (Digital Law): Again, I think participatory culture –  and subsequent student online creation – is amazing, but students are often unaware of their digital responsibilities, as well as copyright guidelines.
  • Classroom strategies: In game or debate format, students can explore copyright versus fair use. This shows them what content can be legally shared or remixed. While I did not view the Amanda Todd videos this week, I am aware of the unfortunate events. Using a mock trial and/or case studies, students can explore the very real – very legal – ramifications of online actions.
• The Potential of Social Media (Digital Rights and Responsibilities): The Story of Content shows the evolution of advertising and how the early 2000s digital shift gave power back to the consumer; the TikTok documentary highlights how this power can be stolen via appropriation and/or suppression. From either perspective, I believe in the potential of social media to promote awareness and push for change (Black Lives Matter, climate change, mental health awareness). Nothing is more important to me than teaching students to use their voices responsibly.
  • Classroom strategies: By providing student autonomy (but providing the guidelines and resources), they can choose which social media activist campaigns they wish to promote or create. My students have always loved advocating for a worthy online cause with real-world positive repurcussions. We must continually ask students whose voices are left out? Whose voices do we need to amplify?

• A Balancing Act (Digital Health and Welfare): The TikTok documentary exposes how algorithms use biometric mirroring (frightening) and data harvesting to generate addictive feeds, potentially further creating harmful filter bubbles and echo chambers that contribute to eating disorders, anxiety, and low self-worth.
  • Classroom strategies: While I would love to have students use their phones (educationally) in class to track and balance their screen-time, this is not to be. Despite this setback, I still have students track their weekly screen-time and reflect on how higher usage correlates with their mood, sleep, and productivity. We further discuss how to set app limits, turn off notifications, and set structured no-phone spaces and times.
• Protecting What’s Most Important (Digital Security and Privacy): Again, both documentaries outline the power of online stories and personas. But what do our students really know about their online privacy? Many don’t realize that a free app usually means they are the product.
  • Classroom strategies: Once again, those oft-overlooked user terms and conditions are essential reading material for our students. What are they signing away in the capitalist social media juggernaut? Online sites like Interland gamify password strength and phishing attack lessons. Students need to understand that their identities are more than something to be bought and sold…and yet those same identities are so easily stolen.

Filters, Feeds, and Facts: Our Role as Digital Mentors

Despite what under-rugs-swept SK cell phone bans would have us believe, we cannot afford to ignore the impact of social media. While I have outlined possible ways to include Ribble’s Digital Citizenship framework in the classroom, I do not support the idea of teachers doing this work alone. In my first EC&I class, I conducted a division-wide survey of teacher digital literacy competency, revealing that over half of our staff felt underprepared and unsupported tackling these issues. A cell phone ban certainly hasn’t helped! To properly guide students, teachers should be provided professional development, division-wide initiatives, and government-funded resources.

And in the expansive meantime (sigh), we can continue integrating Ribble’s Nine Elements, aligning our teaching practices with the SK Digital Citizenship Policy Guide. Our main focus must be ensuring every student receives the support they need to wisely navigate their online world. Among the many hats we already wear, digital mentor must be one of them – perhaps the most important.

POINTS TO PONDER

Thank you for taking the time to read! As always, please feel free to respond to any/all of the reflection questions below or provide your own insights and feedback.

1. How do you see social media platforms influencing student behaviour, identity, and decision-making? What role do you believe we play in addressing these modern challenges?
2. What are some real-world examples you have seen of students struggling or triumphing with digital literacy and citizenship? How have these experiences informed your teaching practices?
3. If you viewed other videos from the EC&I list this week, how do you see them relating to Ribble’s Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship?