Share a copy of the Social Media Talk Agreement with one of your current students or another adult. Obtain their feedback on the agreement. What would they delete from the contract? What would they add to the contract?
Share a copy of the Social Media Talk Agreement with one of your current students or another adult. Obtain their feedback on the agreement. What would they delete from the contract? What would they add to the contract?
Shared with two 7th grade students:
They were pretty apathetic about it. They said it sounds like the things from Common Sense media that they have to watch every year.
I asked what they thought was good about it. They just shrugged. They reported that if they were given this, they probably wouldn’t even read it. They said that they would sign it; but, it would just be like everything else that they are given for school that they have to sign – they wouldn’t read it or pay any attention to it.
I asked if they would ever follow an agreement like this and they said no.
I asked what could be on it that would make it valuable to them – they said it needs to be super short and simple…the more stuff, the less likely they are to read it. (I can’t disagree, I would say the majority of us don’t actually read the acceptable use policy when it comes out for us to sign each year; we just sign it because we have to and move on.)They said that the only way they think it would be effective is if it was scary as they are more likely to pay attention to the bad things that can happen, than anything else.
They said they would like a more clear understanding of cyberbullying and all of the things that they need to look out for and how to respond.
(And these were my good kids – high achievers, rule followers, hard workers, kind, etc.)
I shared the contract with an 11 year old in 6th grade and a 14 year old in 8th grade and they both thought I was sharing it with them because they thought I was accusing them of doing these things. When I explained it was being proactive and not reactive they were more open. I read over the agreement with each of them separately. With the 8th grader as we read through it he didn’t agree with having an early digital curfew and said that it helps him fall asleep. Instead users should not use it when it is daytime, but instead use it at night. During the few daylight hours you should be outside. If you stay up then you “lack discipline” and not taking responsibility for your own actions with device use. “Sometimes you have to know when to hold them, no when to walk away and no when to run.” When asked if current teachers have social media tech agreement he says that none of the teachers have one. Then he said ” that is all I have say about that.” And the interview with this 14 year old was over. It was also interesting that he asked what bullying would be. He thinks that everyone gives everyone else a hard time and people are made to feel bad about them selves on a daily basis.
With the 11 year old he said he wouldn’t add or delete anything. He thinks it is all very useful. He thinks the most important part was that he would tell his parents if he was being cyber bullied because it is bad. He also stated that none of his 6th grade teachers have an agreement with students. He liked that it had the reasons so it made sense to him. We also talked about consequences for not following through on the agreement parts. He came up with his own.
The agreement was great to have as a conversation piece to talk openly about certain parts of technology use.
I had a junior and a sophomore give me their thoughts on the work tech agreement and one junior gave me a little feedback on the home tech agreement.
Most they actually agreed with but some of the other comments on the work agreement were…
-dont’ complain about work or customers: people do it all the time
-digital curfew: can stay up and still have good sleep patterns; 100% agree my phone makes me stay up
– monitor screen time: this is a little overboard (same kid who says his phone keeps him up =)
-talk to parents if cyberbullied: some people are old enough to take care of their own
-won’t text and drive: agree, safety is first
Home tech – surprised me that he was okay with his parents having all his passwords and info. He agreed that screen-time messes with his sleep as well.
I’d be interested to see what more of my class says. I’d also like to pass along to my co-workers at some point. This is definitely something I’ll be passing along to my parents help them with my little sisters too!
I showed this to my 16 and 18 year old kids at home. It was interesting because they said comments like “this is common sense” or “everybody knows to have a passcode on their phone.” Perhaps this response is because they are older high school students OR it could be that we have had a LOT of technology discussions in our house because of my job as a school counselor. As we discussed it further, I explained to them that many elementary and middle school students don’t know about the need for passcodes and the importance of private accounts. Their thoughts were that the contract might need to look different depending on the age of the student. I think that elementary students don’t need to have the “texting and driving” one. I also think the “curfew” will be different for each age group and perhaps high school students’ could have a guideline such as “I will not multi-task on my phone while studying” with the reason being that there is a 20-30% reduction in productivity.
This year, I haven’t had as many issues with students having cell phones visible at work. Unsure if it’s the particular group of students this year, a crack down at job sites or a combination of the two.
For this project, I interviewed 1 senior, 2 juniors and and HR Director about Social Media Tech Agreement. All agreed they abide by their employers social media guidelines, whether they are paid employees or interns. It is part of being a team player. You’re not paid to be on your cell phone. That’s allowed during personal time (lunch or after clocking out for the day).
The students all agreed that focusing on your cell phone instead of your work at the hotel can put you/co-workers/guests in danger especially if you are working on something serious that requires full attention. Examples were: you could fall off a ladder, cut your finger off… They stated guest and employee safety is not something that can be swept under the rug and ignored. Rules are put in place for a reason.
One of the juniors (female) stated you should have your filter on when posting things online. Posting negative things about your co-workers not only affects your employment, but you are putting yourself in danger of getting “punched in the head”.
The 3 students said they put their phone on DND at night, and are not tempted to look at social media, so they can get as much uninterrupted sleep as possible. Most of their social media activity occurs during the bus ride to and from school or after they have finished homework in the evening.
One of our business partners has a ticketing program for employees. Those caught on their cell phones while working are issued “tickets” by their managers. 3 tickets result in a write up and subsequent “tickets” leads to dismissal. When asked about posting negative comments about co-workers, their work place or guests/customers- 2 jobsites indicated those are grounds for immediate dismissal. One gave an example that a server had gone on social media to state that her customer (OSU football player) was a lousy tipper…she was dismissed immediately, no questions asked.
I sat down with a second year Employability Prep student while he was troubleshooting a broken vacuum during his work shift. I found it interesting what he felt was important to have in a social media tech talk agreement.
He felt the contract should include following employer’s social media guidelines, reason: important to keep your job; not complaining about work or customers on social media, reason: creates drama at work; locking my cellphone and/or keeping it locked in a safe place while at work, reason: if it gets stolen, it is your own fault; understanding that my behavior on my phone can impact my current reputation, reason: can affect my ability to get a job; never using your phone to hurt someone, reason: you could get in trouble with the law.
All of the other entries in the agreement he felt were personal issues and not something an employer should put in an agreement for employees.
I had a conversation with a 15 year old about the contract. She stated that it all made sense and she felt that most of the statements should be viewed as common sense, but also agreed that some people need it spelled out for them.
She felt that the issue of monitoring screen time should not be part of a social media contract for work. She felt that they could tell her to not be on her phone at all during work hours, but that they should not be able to tell her how much screen time she should be having outside of work.
She also wasn’t thrilled about the “digital curfew”. Although she agreed that she is sometimes up later than she should be while interacting with others on her phone, she also uses it as her alarm clock to get her up and to school in the morning because her parents are at work by the time she wakes up.
What would they delete from the contract? What would they add to the contract?
I asked my seventh grade class if there was anyone who would like to help me with this assignment by looking over the social media agreement. I had about seven students who really wanted to participate, so I let them all help. They had some really great comments about several of the terms in the agreement.
Digital curfew: They agreed that it is reasonable for a parent to set a curfew time during the week, but didn’t think there should really be one for the weekends. Their reasoning was because they like to stay up a lot later on weekends, and it varies from weekend to weekend.
Giving parents passwords: If asked to give it, they would, but they don’t automatically volunteer the information.
Tell parents if cyberbullied: No. They would not tell unless they thought it was threatening their safety or if it was about their family.
Never use phone to bully: They said no, but they said they would do it to their friends because it would be funny. I put it into a senario where everyone thought it was funny except them. They said that if they didn’t think it should be done, they would play the “Reverse Card.” I asked what that was. They said it is like in Uno where you reverse the turn. They also said you can say to play UNO but backwards! Instead of Uno it is No U! I thought that was funny and clever.
Never meet someone offline who have only met online: They all agreed except one who said it was debatable. He has an older sister who met someone online in high school and now that she is 21, he moved to Ohio to be with her.
Overall, they did not think there was anything to delete, just modify. They didn’t have any suggestions for additions.
I spoke to a group of three “high drama” 8th grade girls about the cell phone contract. They, in appropriate developmental fashion, thought the bullets were good, even common sense, but that most of them wouldn’t pertain to them personally. They truly believe they are invincible to many of the dangers outlined in the contract. They thought the contract was too wordy but appreciated that there were reasons or clarifications for each statement instead of just “demands.”
We talked about different ways for counselors to use the idea of an agreement or contract in a middle school. My favorite was to break the contract down into smaller chunks. They liked the idea of the contract but in a much smaller format. They thought if the counselor would pull out the text heavy contract, the students would just shut down, but if there was a smaller, half sheet with one or two bullets that related to the conversation that brought them into the office, the students may have a higher likelihood of listening. All agreed that making a copy as a reminder would be beneficial but cautioned that they would definitely not put it in their locker.
I have tried this small version contract with two students who had shared passwords with each other. They realized some potential problems first hand because they were best friends who were in a fight and pictures were shared. However, I took the opportunity to talk through even more “what if” scenarios and then had them sign a contract and recommended they post their copy in their locker or in their room as a reminder. All parties left at least pretending to have learned something of interest to their every day lives.