Every year the SGA has a fall project to advocate for a cause. This year the SGA has chosen to focus their fall project on social media safety. “Our project this year is about electronic and social media safety because bad things are happening when students do not know safe ways to use their social media,” junior SGA representative Hunter Band said.
The SGA will use a variety of methods to spread their message throughout the week of December 11-15. “We will be putting up posters with stats about social media, and there will be videos on the morning announcements about social media safety,” Band said.
The SGA feels that this is a strong cause to raise awareness of because a majority of students use phones and social media daily. “Social media safety is very important because people are always on their phones every day, and they don’t always know how to be safe so this project will help that,” Band said.
Social media can cause long lasting problems for students. The SGA’s project will try to help students be smart on social media for their short and long term future. “If you post anything inappropriate online or on social media, colleges or employers will usually find a way to look at it so that is one of the main reasons why it is important to learn how to be careful on social media now, so bad choices do not impact you later on,” junior Rory Sullivan said.
Social media has created more problems for high school students because there is an increasing number of social media apps in use, and there are always new ones being created. A survey by the Los Angeles Times showed that 50 percent of kids said they had more than three different social media apps, and more than 75 percent said they had at least two.
As students continue to download more social media apps, there are more opportunities for dangerous situations to unfold. Students are also using social media more throughout the day, including during school hours. That is why it is an important time to teach students social media safety. “Social media safety is very relevant in school because a lot of kids use it all the time so unsafe things can easily happen,” sophomore Melanie Roberts said.
As technology improves students can post on social media faster and more often. Without understanding the danger of what a social media post can do, students could easily be put in dangerous situations that they do not even realize are taking place.
Teachers observe students on social media all the time, so they have an understanding of how much it is used. “I think social media safety is essential because students face so many different challenges with social media that used to not exist for students, and they have to be prepared to face those challenges,” art teacher Jessica Coleman said.
In today’s technological world social media has become a part of life. Businesses and schools typically have some type of social media accounts. Since social media is so common in society, it is difficult to avoid it completely, so it’s important to know how to use it safely. “Everyone uses social media these days, so this SGA project should be very helpful to everyone,” Sullivan said.
Jake Klugerman
Profiles Editor
