Will social networks be banned in schools?
Interesting question … without a simple answer.
However …
Complaints originating from social media make up “at least half” of calls passed on to front-line officers, a senior officer has told the BBC. See this article on the BBC website.
With that in mind, should the use of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the like be outlawed as a method of communication from school to home?
I’ve spoken before about the use of social media in education, but the growing concern over the safety of children online, and the ability to respond with malice to posts on social networks makes me more and more inclined to back a possible ban. It’s online hate crime, and is sucking resources from our beleaguered public services, and the world has a duty to respond.
Who is responsible?
Ultimately, the issue is one of responsible use of social networks. But, the proclivity for idiotic rants and malicious replies to innocent posts make social networks a hotbed of controversy, and potentially unsafe for younger users that, we all know, have accounts – even if they are under age.
Police that?
Not possible without additional safeguards that social networks are ill equipped to deal with. For the time being. My daughter was 12 when she created a Facebook account without parental consent. She simply said she was 18 when she signed up.
She had death threats from peers, and hateful comments that made her life a misery within weeks of registration.
Is Schoop a solution?
Obviously I’m going to put Schoop up there as a solution, because our communication is one-way and non-sensitive. There’s not much can go wrong, and Schoop is cyber-bully free. No moderation required, and you can sleep at night.
Should schools and other organisations that have a duty to safeguard children be using social networks to communicate with families?
Personally, I think not.
But what do you think?