Accepting, not Embracing, Social Media.

Snapchat. Its an app that so many youth today use and so many adults don't understand. Atleast many that I have talked too. The app came out when I was in High school. which I suppose that makes my High school peers partially responsible for its success. Or at the least it lasting until today's students so readily embraced it. I personally don't quite get it, but I understand it. I didn't grow up with a lack of free time, or the inability to connect with people after school. I suppose I was one of the last ones, if what we learned today is true.

What does it mean then to accept social media, but not embrace it? To accept Snapchat and the host of other social media platforms means to accept reality. They exist. They are here. And they're not going anywhere. Students today thrive on these platforms and the ability they have to connect with their peers outside of parent control. As educators, we simply cannot deny it. By accepting it though, we gain credibility with students. We gain trust and relationship. 

I find the idea of social media and rampant dislike for it similar to the distaste some people had for the telephone. Why do you need to a telephone? You can talk to them when you see them next. Or write a letter, or send a telegram, etc.. It is likely that parents and elders alike expressed profound distaste for telephones when youths desired to speak with their friends rather than waiting. And so it is today, common complaints are that students should get off their phones and interact how parents and elders want them too. Just as I'm sure those same elders parents complained when they were on the phone all the time. 

The difference between accepting and embracing then is that you don't have to use it yourself. Just accept that social media is here to stay and you can't change that.