Tuesday, October 13, 2015

10 Tips For Teens Using Social Media #HavetheTalk #Being13 #BeingThirteen

Photo Credit: 10 Practices for Connected Students
CORWIN connect
...Kids these days. They don't know how to speak face-to-face anymore.  All they do is spend their days, heads glued to cell phones -- texting. They need to learn how to communicate in the real world. 
Adults who share these sentiments are missing the fact that digital communication is real. Kids aren't texting fake people. They're communicating with real-world friends in their real digital worlds.  
The problem is that, even though they know should be ensuring their children are using digital resources effectively, few adults feel prepared to do that. Given that, is it any wonder that on exposés such as #BeingThirteen / #Being13, young people are engaging in unsavory behavior?  
It's not that social media is causing teens to act in inappropriate ways, it simply brings their actions to light and magnifies what they are doing.  
The knee-jerk reaction of some adults is to require teens to abstain from using social media for short or long periods of time, when instead they should #HaveTheTalk. Social media has no intent. It is a tool and while it can be used for socially inappropriate behavior, it can also be used for social good, social justice, social learning, and in other positive ways. The role of adults in the lives of young people is to support them in engaging safely, responsibly and effectively, regardless of the medium in which they are communicating.  
These ten practices shared by CORWIN connect as part of Connected Educator month are a good start.  
  1. Use real names
  2. Use real headshots
  3. Use a real bio
  4. Post with intention
  5. Understand private posts may become public
  6. Celebrate work and interests more publicly
  7. Be goofy on less social platforms
  8. Be interesting
  9. Use images effectively
  10. Use hashtags well
Read the explanation of each, and why it is important at the original article which you can find at http://corwin-connect.com/2015/10/10-practices-for-connected-students. .

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