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We have had 2 instances in our district this year of inappropriate use of social media. Both instances were "fun" ideos put together by a bunch of friends. One video was titled using a school activity name. The students were lip syncing in it. All was fine until they decided to add the use of a soft air gun and vapor cigarettes to it. They had advertised to all of their peers that this groups video would be coming out so it got a lot of views. While no one was harmed or bullied, it was definitely inappropriate. The students were suspended from school for a day and from extracurricular activities for a period of time.
Shortly after this instance a group of girls from a school activity decided to make a video of an inappropriate nature following a football game while they were wearing their school uniforms. This video also got a lot of views. The girls were also suspended from extracurricular activities for 2 games.
There was a lot of discussion in our district about if these were fair punishments or not. Parents were more upset about the consequences their children received than they were about how inappropriate their childrens' behavior was.
I discussed with my own children the consequences of irresponsible use of the internet in this regard. What these students did may have not been a big deal had they done them before the digital age because the impact of what they did may have only been on a couple of people, but as Mr. Ribble said with putting what they did out there on the internet, they are modeling for thousands of other people.
In my house, we settled it by saying, "Would you want your grandparents or your boss to view you doing something like this? If you post it, one of them will probably see it."
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