I have twitter again!
The first time I had Twitter was in 2011. I found my old account tonight and it was deeply unsettling and filled me with shame :) 13 year old Ellen was very confident, very vocal about her love for Harry Potter, and a not so subtle subtweeter. I was also a big fan of the #hashtag. I have now done my very best to eliminate any evidence of my previous online persona, just short of setting my computer on fire.
So Twitter try take 1... bad. I was definitely too young to have a platform like that to share my opinions with the world... it was cringey and embarrassing to look back on.
Twitter try take 2? So far has been fine, I guess. I'm mostly following teacher accounts. I haven't tweeted any personal thoughts or opinions. For some reason it's suggesting that I follow Andrew Scheer? Thank you but no thank you.
Honestly, finding my old Twitter account makes me hesitant to ever publish my own thoughts ever again. As you age and gain more knowledge and experience, your thoughts and opinions change so much! Won't that apply to me as a teacher as well? I just don't like the idea of there being a record of me somewhere saying something that I don't agree with or believe today. Ok, even though my 13 year old Twitter opinions were harmless... they're still not a representation of who I am now.
HOWEVER. I do think this is an important lesson in accountability. What you post stays there forever, can be found whenever, by whoever. Don't post something you wouldn't say to someones face (in my case, it was mostly angsty subtweets at my parents).
So would I use social media in a professional sense? Possibly Instagram... photos and quick captions. That feels like a more comfortable place to start anyways. As for Twitter and personal Blogs... once this class is over, both of these accounts are going to be deactivated until I decide how to successfully and professionally run an account that I won't come to regret in another 10 years.
Good post Ellen. I completely concur that about your point of realizing what you post lasts forever. I myself had a previous account ( I was 17 not 13) but still not greatly managed I would say. However, I am not sure how I would use twitter. I know twitter is an extremely political platform and I am not so sure that as a teacher it is a smart idea to boldly place your self in a political corner publicly. This could potentially cause issues. That's just my current opinion, and like you I am continually trying to learn!
ReplyDeleteNice work!