The Power of Words

Ah Election Coverage... you bring out the good, the bad, and the just plain nasty in people more than almost any other topic, and this past week was no different. There was a difference though in the way it was presented and spread about like wildfire, and I attribute that difference to the vast uprise of social media in our lives over the past four years. Now granted, things like Twitter and Facebook have been around longer than that (though not that much longer, relatively speaking), but when looking at how differently they were used in this election it's not hard to see that they have grown and evolved significantly since the 2008 coverage. 

Many times on both Tuesday and Wednesday I found myself sitting in amazement at how social media has truly changed they way we 'do' life. Status updates, Tweets, Blogs, and comments are such an integral part of our daily interactions that it only makes sense that we would want to discuss an important national decision like this through those means. But I saw so many instances of people who are friends in real life, or even family members, making mean, insensitive, and just plain rude comments to one another under the premise that through the internet such things are ok to say. People were being offensive to friends & 'friends' alike to the point that some were removing them from their profile or life altogether.

Now, I enjoy social media and all of the benefits it has brought us--never before have we been in such a place as to communicate with each other instantly around the world, learn from one another, get answers to questions, and access professional development resources--but sometimes I wonder why can't we be civil with each other? And where will we draw the line between debate and personal attack? Are people even able to find that line anymore? 

Which brings me to the world of education. I truly believe that negative interactions like these can often be avoided, but it takes a special type of literacy to do so--one that could be called something like Social-Tech Literacy or Social Media Literacy. This type of literacy does not just include things like ensuring that students know how social media works and are able to navigate new interfaces (though those are important foundations of it) but also how to interact properly with others online. This type of literacy education would include word choice and tone, but also the power that is contained through punctuation, emoticons, and other text formatting options. The teaching of social media etiquette and literacy will become increasingly important as we begin to integrate it more and more into our classrooms, and the reality is that someone needs to teach it! There are far too many adults and children alike using harsh, hateful language to 'discuss' a topic--when the topic could be addressed both critically and civilly at the same time--because they are unaware of how to discuss it otherwise**.

Words are powerful, and even more so when the 'listener' cannot hear the intonation through the internet text. If we can begin to address tone, formatting, and word choice in online interactions in our classrooms then we will be taking a huge step towards creating a future generation that is more cognizant of what they say, both online and otherwise. And who knows, maybe this is part of the formula for reducing the amount of online bullying out there too....One can only hope!


Thoughts? Agree or disagree? Comment below and I'd love to discuss it with you!


**(I'm choosing to assume that they are unaware of the effects of their word selection rather than it being a conscious choice, which would be an entirely different issue.)