Brave New World- Sociology
by Jazmine Storvold – Tuesday, 14 January 2020, 1:43 PM
Sociology- “How might social media both enhance and disrupt relationships inside and outside of the classroom?”
Social media clearly has a large role in society today. Everyone is most likely using some form of social media daily whether that be in school or outside of it. Like anything social media has both positives and negatives. There are various ways social media can enhance and disrupt relationships inside and outside of the classroom. Ways in which social media could enhance relationships within the classroom are through creativity, connection, and open-mindedness. Social media can be an excellent tool for students to use to create and share content on what is it they are learning in the classroom. Students who struggle socially within the class and have a hard time expressing their thoughts and opinions might feel more comfortable expressing their learning through an outlet such as social media. Being that teachers are struggling to get students off their phones and excited about learning social media can be an opportunity to do so. Students may be more engaged in learning if it involves social media. Like Renate Wexler expresses in the case study if used responsibly students can use social media to create web content, share photos and ideas, use on-line publishing and participate in discussion. Then there is the question as to how do we know students are using social media responsibly and is it possible? This is how disruption of relationships can occur. Social media when used between students and teachers can be a potential threat towards appropriate student and teacher relationships. By choosing to engage in using social media with your students you are putting yourself in a vulnerable position that can ultimately lead to issues or putting your job at risk. It is extremely difficult to monitor students use of social media websites within the classroom. As much as we would like to believe that students can use social media responsibly unfortunately that isn’t always the case. There are also the relationships between students that can be at risk using social media in the classrooms. Cyberbullying has become an epidemic in today’s world and by allowing students access to using social media in classrooms there is the reality that students bullying other students is a real possibility. They are just a few examples that came to mind regarding the positives and negatives aspects on relationships and social media in the classroom.
