Social media site's effect on the classroom

With the growing social media scene is slowly taking over everyone's lives, its easy to forget how quickly constant access to a person's life can be detrimental to your reputation as a mentor and a role model.

I've personally decided to adopt an +18 policy on my social media sites, as I'm not at a point in my life where I'm ready to give up my personal life stream with my friends. All the research I've done has pointed to cutting the ties. Its not professional to be "friends" with your students.

Why? Its hard to remember a day when the internet didn't exist for most people. When I was a child we only had a telephone that plugged into the wall and you had to carry the set around the house if you wanted a private conversation. We didn't even purchase a computer until I was almost in middle school and then we all used dial up as a means of conversation. It was a different time and as strange as it seems, simpler as well. Now its part of my daily routine to check my Facebook, my email, my blog, my phone and once a week check the mailbox. How much has changed since the nineties! We're living in a world of instant communication and while this has done wonders for keeping in contact with people its also caused a lot of other problems between how we relate to each other. I know FAR too much about my friends because of social media site's instant access for everyone to see whats on display. I don't think it appropriate for children to see their teacher complaining about money, intimacy, or any of the other problems they may have accrued that day!

I also don't think I would have been comfortable calling my teacher to talk on the phone as a child, yet its becoming more and more acceptable to text message a teacher/student throughout the day. The lines of student/teacher relationship are getting more and more blurry as time goes on. What's the effect on classes? A complete lack of respect between peers and mentors. Knowing that your teacher said happy birthday and talked to you about your plans and how your boyfriend treated you throughout the day generally causes students to forget their place in the classroom.

Year's ago when the ballet classroom etiquette was established your instructor was someone you looked up to and revered, not your friend and confidant. The idea of people being superior to to each other is slowly fading away and while this may or may not be for the good of man kind, its certainly not good for how classrooms are structured. Teachers will do better to remember the difference in being a peer vs a superior in these situations. My social media outlets are designed for me to be friends with my friends and not my students and although it was a hard decision, I made the friends list purge today and am no longer allowing anyone that is a student or coworker to be part of my social media circle. In the end I think its for the best.

What are your thoughts? -Ms Ivy