Staff Editorial
Mira Costa held an assembly on Oct. 28 to emphasize the power that the positive uses social media can have on students. In light of the recent events at Costa regarding the sharing of social media, the assembly was a step in the right direction on informing students on social media usage; however, students could have benefited even more if the assembly provided new information that focused directly on the harmful consequences of social media misuse.
Social media safety speaker Josh Ochs was the speaker at the assembly and spoke to all athletes and anyone else who chose to attend. Using a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation, he worked to inform students about the wise choices students should make on their social media accounts in order to create a positive image for college recruiters and admissions officers.
In order to effectively get this message across, Ochs should have included real-life examples. Although he did bring up several real-life situations, they did not pertain specifically to high schoolers. Instead, the entire assembly seemed to be centered around those seeking jobs after high school and beyond.
For instance, for a portion of the slideshow, Ochs utilized Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus and compared how each would act online. While his efforts had positive intentions, these methods seemed to sugar coat the pressing issue of social media misuse by using celebrities to catch students’ attention, rather than average teens.
Furthermore, the examples mentioned pertained more to helping people impress their bosses or colleges, rather than focusing on educating students about the importance of cyber bullying. For instance, Ochs spoke about a woman who was fired after tweeting negatively about her job, but he should have spoken about the even worse effect of someone tweeting negatively about someone else.
Held in the Small Theatre with a limited amount of space, the assembly was only mandatory for athletes, because, according to Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale, targeting Costa’s athletes would be the most beneficial method in spreading the positive uses of social media to all grade levels. Instead, the assembly should have been mandatory for all students, using the Auditorium to account for this larger audience. As a result, Ochs could have spread his message to even more students.
However, although holding one mandatory assembly will make a positive impact, in the future, Costa can make an even greater impact on students by implementing social media awareness into the curriculum of Health or other classes. This has been a topic of discussion throughout the administration, according to Dale, but no set plan has been implemented as of now.
Although definitely a step in the right direction, the assembly failed to address the dangers of social media and included examples that did not pertain to high schoolers. However, by centering the assembly around the repercussions of social media on others, the assembly could have more successfully expressed the value of social media awareness.
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