Mastering the Media—with Coaching and Critical Thinking
Picture this: Groups of middle and high school teenagers intently listening to, applauding, and appreciating social media advice being given to them by . . . a mom!
Could that actually happen? Yes, it just did—at Principia Upper and Middle School in November.
Of course, it helps that Julie Smith is considerably more media-savvy than most moms, being an adjunct professor of media studies at both Webster University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. A mother of three teenage boys and the author of Master the Media: How Teaching Media Literacy Can Save Our Plugged-In World, Smith led several sessions with students as well as faculty, dorm staff, and parents, at the invitation of Dean of Students Erin Rainwater.
Smith sees herself as a “cyber coach,” focused on improving media literacy and digital citizenship among a range of consumers who increasingly get their information, including news, from social media. “I feel we have entered into an age where truth no longer matters,” she wrote in a recent blog post. “We are more interested in what we believe than what is true. We are incapable and unwilling to check for facts”—especially, she notes, when what we hear or read affirms what we already believe.
Understanding Young People’s Use of Social Media
When speaking with faculty, staff, and parents, Smith stressed that young people are “primarily living their lives online,” and their notion of privacy is minimal or virtually nonexistent. While teenagers through the generations have dealt with social pressures, anxiety, and the need for affirmation, the difference now is that they are dealing with these in a much wider public arena.
Noting that social media is “young people’s currency of communication,” Smith encouraged adults in the Principia community to focus more on what students should do rather than not do online. One Principia mom, who has heard Smith speak before and also read her book, said, “Not only is Julie a very funny and entertaining speaker, she has really important and relevant insights . . . . After hearing her speak, I found myself understanding my kids' perspective more clearly—which has allowed me to support them better.”
“I won’t tell you what you should not be posting or saying on social media—because you know that already,” Smith told Principia Upper and Middle School students in two separate sessions. “But I will help you figure out ways to monitor your online brand and help you be familiar with laws and with the rules of the sites you go to.”
Raising Student Awareness of Laws, Bias, and Protection
In this vein, Smith highlighted some of the main usage rules, as well as Missouri State laws about what constitutes exploitation of a minor (even when minors post their own photos), pornography, and trafficking, among other illegal activities.
One of Smith’s main objectives is to inject critical thinking and “reality checks” into the equation—before users start sharing, retweeting, hash-tagging, and liking posts or responding to phishing e-mails. So she stressed to students the importance of always questioning, checking, or otherwise authenticating the source of a post, tweet, or e-mail.
“Everything in the media is constructed to sell something or to perpetuate some idea. It’s not always true,” she cautioned, advising students to rely on multiple sources to obtain information and news. Illustrating how easy it is to create fake Tweets or Instagram posts that look just like the real thing, she showed an image with thousands of “likes” of celebrity Kim Kardashian praising one of Smith’s class sessions at Webster. When she showed this same image to her college students, Smith said they believed it and were thrilled—until she showed them how easy it is for anyone to go to websites that help create realistic-looking fake media posts.
With both adults and students, Smith shared tips on how to block and report offensive content on a range of media, assuring listeners that the companies are “counting on you to keep their sites safe.” And she also shared strategies—such as using Google’s reverse image search and alerts system—to monitor who might be using your images without authorization or mentioning you in their own posts or streams.
Last but not least, she encouraged students to think about presenting themselves on the Internet in a way that shows them at their best. “If you’re a singer, create videos and post them on YouTube or YouNow,” Smith advised. “If there are colleges or universities you’re interested in, follow their administrators on Twitter—so you get to know these individuals and what interests them; get a profile going on LinkedIn.”
This information resonated with upper schoolers, who loudly applauded at the end of her talk. “It was great,” said one sophomore. “She knows so much, and she explained to us how we can create positive profiles on social media. She even told us we should print out business cards so we can network!”
Note: You can get more information at www.heyjuliesmith.com.