Students Hear About the Promise, Not the Peril, of Social Media

As a teenager growing up in Pennsylvania, Laura Tierney heard all the horror stories around social media. As an adult, however, she discovered its potential.

 

"I got three of my four jobs through social media, not in spite of it," Tierney told Upper School students on Wednesday. "I worked with great brands," including ESPN, Disney, and Under Armour, "and I could see how powerful social media was for them."

 

Tierney founded a company, the Social Institute, to bring this positive approach to social media into conversation with teenagers. On Tuesday and Wednesday, she came to NCS for a series of sessions with students, faculty, and parents.

 

"Social media is how students socialize—period," Tierney told parents, and as such, it plays a large role in social and emotional learning for today's teenagers. The question facing adults is, "How can we equip them to navigate this world?"

 

The Social Institute's focus is on "do's" rather than "don'ts" and encourages ongoing conversations with peers and trusted adults about the unique issues faced online.

 

For example, in one scenario she presented to Middle Schoolers, a friend seems too concerned with getting lots of likes for her social media posts. Tierney offered possible responses: reminding her that likes aren't everything, offering her a supportive message outside of the social channel, or suggesting that you both take a break from social media to renew your focus on what matters. She then asked students to discuss them and decide on the one that sounded most appropriate.

 

This discussion is what Tierney calls a "Social Sprint," one that, in only a few minutes, examines the question, discusses alternatives, and reaches a decision. Another model is her "Face Off" to examine more complex topics—if, for instance, high school students should be encouraged to develop a presence on LinkedIn. Participants develop pro and con arguments, but the debate is less important than the analysis and getting teenagers (and their parents) to think more deeply about social media.

 

The overarching goal is providing teenagers tools to pursue what they see as the ideal of social media—having a positive impact on the world. At NCS, more than 95 percent of Middle and Upper Schoolers hold that belief, and realizing that aspiration, Tierney told the students, begins with a character-driven approach to social media.

 

"Does your feed represent who you are?," Tierney asked the Upper Schoolers, encouraging them to show their social media profile to a friend and to request feedback on what it reveals. "When you live up to high standards, you start to change the culture of a community."

 

She also encouraged students to seek out positive role models to follow online, adding, "What we put in our feed impacts the five inches between our ears."

 

In every group, Tierney brought the discussion to seven standards of social media, which parents and children can call upon equally online:

 

Play to your core: What we text, post and share reflects our character, our core values.

 

Protect your privacy like you're famous: Control the controllable by safeguarding personal info.

 

Strike a balance: Screen time should fit within the fullness of our lives, rather than dominate our lives.

 

Build a strong team: Fill our feeds with only those who support and bring out the best in us.

 

Cyberback others: Stand up for others who are struggling online, and lift up those celebrating successes.

 

Use your mic for good: Social media can inspire positive change, if we approach it with that in mind.

 

Huddle often: Talk to others about our experiences online and the best moves to make in given situations.

 

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See also from NCS Director of Counseling Sandi Krotman: Life Online: How Adults Can Help Young People Make The Most Of Social Media (NCS Magazine, Spring 2016)