Social networking and boundaries
Social networking has literally changed the face of society as we know it.
Privacy has gone, sharing is everything – what you wore today, what you had for lunch, who you like or who you don’t – nothing is sacred any longer.
Seven’s leading morning program, Sunrise, hosted a segment this morning around the issue of students and teachers being friends on Facebook.
So we have two unique view points:
- The school principal who’s students friend teachers (it should be noted that it is not the teachers seeking out the students, but the students requesting the teachers as friends); see it as a way for both students and teachers to continue building upon the relationship setup in the classroom and for assistance with schoolwork.
- The child safety expert feels that it is overstepping a professional boundary, that students have other avenues for working with teachers. She used the analogy that teachers would never have called a student privately on the phone, so why should they hang out with them on Facebook.
We are seeing the same thing happening in workplaces with an increasing trend in employees and bosses being friends on Facebook. This can have negative consequences with people having been fired for comments made about colleagues or having been caught out “chucking sickies”.
There are many pros and cons to this situation, but the basic ones seeming to be privacy and common sense. With regards to teachers, the obvious one would be child safety. If you do friend a colleague or equivalent person on Facebook, think about whether you want them knowing every intimate detail of your life. If you don’t, utilise the various privacy settings that most social networks have to control the levels of who sees what.
This is literally a subject we could spend all day on, so we’d like to know your thoughts!
Should teachers have students as Facebook friends or as friends on any social networks? Why or why not?
- Yahoo!7 Australia Answers Team
Answer via the question above or leave a comment below!
Kate
Community Manager
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