Tweens and Thoughts on Social Media

This week I spoke with a few 4th and 5th graders about their experience with social media and technology. All the students are between 9-11 years old and attend the same school.

Student A doesn't have his own phone, but a lot of his friends do. His experience of social media is through his mom. He hates that she is constantly snapping pictures of him and posting it online for everyone to see. He feels embarrassed and hopes his friends don't see all the pictures, but they always do. He shows up to school and finds out his mom posted another picture and his school mates poke fun at him. He has told his mom to stop posting the pictures to Facebook, but she won't stop.

Student B has her own phone and a public TikTok account. She is hoping to get discovered one day and become famous from her videos. She has over 100 followers - most are people she doesn't know. She loves how she learns all the newest dances and is the first of her friends to know them. She feels really good when she gets likes. She gets anxious when she doesn't have her phone and can't check to see if she has any new followers and likes. When she is at home, all she wants to do is watch TikToks and make new TikToks.

Student C has a phone without a phone number. She uses it to go on YouTube to watch music videos and Azzyland. She also likes to play Minecraft, but her mom doesn't let her message anyone through the game. When she was 7, she messaged with someone from a  game and her mom saw the messages and got really angry. The person asked her for her age and address. Since then, her mom made her promise to not message anyone through games that she doesn't know in person. If she does, and her mom finds out, her electronics will be taken away. If she wants to download a new game, she has to ask her mom for permission first. She wants TikTok. She doesn't understand it, but she wants it because all of her friends have it. She feels left out on game day at school because all of her friends bring their phones to make TikTok videos and she doesn't know what they are doing. She wishes her friends. Her mom said she can have social media after she graduates from 8th grade in a few years. She took the Wait Until 8th Pledge.

Image from https://twitter.com/WaitUntil8th/photo

All three students have been posted in pictures on their school's Facebook page. They like the attention they get and feel famous in their school when their friends see their pictures online. What they all found weird was when they would get home, their parents already knew what they did at school that day. Student A didn't like how that made him feel. He said he felt like he was being spied on. Student B said she loves when her pictures are online. It makes her feel good when someone mentions it to her that they saw her on Facebook. Student C mostly likes the attention, but admitted that sometimes it makes her feel weird.