What one sticky yellow note and social media can do.
What happened at Rancho Bernardo High School is an example of what can happen when some kids do mean or stupid things and because of Snapchat and other social media tools, rumors and news, real and fake, can spread like a Southern California wildfire.
Long before social media exploded into our culture, kids did stupid things and mean things. That’s part of human nature.
And parents expect it sometimes, or least they are not surprised by it and parents need to be ready to do something about it and know and how to do it.
Teaching kids how to be responsible and doing the right thing and not the wrong thing and why what you say and do in relationships can sometimes hurt others.
But in a world where social media is weaved into the lives and into almost every hour of every day of with teens using a cell phone as if it’s a human organ attached to their bodies, it’s become harder for parents to even know what’s going on because it happens so quickly.
Many of the parents who got the alert of a lockdown at Rancho Bernardo High School this week rushed to the school. They wanted to know their kid was safe. They wanted to know what they could do. They wanted to do something.
All parents would do well to listen to what the San Diego police captain said after the lockdown was over and some teens had been arrested. She said parents need to tell their kids to know that what they say and do on social media can have consequences. That what they think may be funny is not. It can be hurtful and harmful. And if they see something like that on their phones, say something about it.
(Photo credit Getty Images)