Student athletes have social media on the brain
Networking apps causing new set of headaches for high school coaches
A Los Angeles Times survey conducted in June found that among high school students, half have more than three social media apps, and nearly all have at least one; 84 percent believe the internet is a safe place, and nearly half of students spend two or more hours per day on social media, with nearly all high-schoolers spending at least 30 minutes a day in that realm. File photo
With great power comes great responsibility.
Be it Voltaire, Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt or Spider-Man, whomever it was who coined that phrase, he definitely didn’t tweet it, Snapchat it or post it to Instagram.
The world, thanks to social media, has suddenly gone live. Be it Facebook, Periscope, YouTube or whatever flavor of the month game-changing app is launched next week, kids suddenly have a lot more power than they used to.
And like most power, the use of social media seems more likely to corrupt. If you’re over 30, you’ve probably said something along the lines of “I’m glad they didn’t have that when I was in high school.”
Because social media lead to a lot of anti-social behavior, the type of things most kids seem to do but those in prior generations didn’t have to worry about the world seeing.
Kids already had plenty of ways to get themselves in trouble and social media has added a few more to that. The problem with this epidemic is, the world indeed can see the misdeeds.
This in turn has caused a new set of headaches for high school coaches and administrators, as the worldwide web has turned into a giant bulletin board for trash talk, taunting and all sorts of verbal shenanigans.
Though, as Rittman athletic director/baseball coach Joe Staley implores. “Don’t hit send!”, kids have no safety net in the form of self-control. They exist in a shoot-first, answer questions later world of instant gratification.
A Los Angeles Times survey conducted in June found that among high school students, half have more than three social media apps, and nearly all have at least one; 84 percent believe the internet is a safe place, and nearly half of students spend two or more hours per day on social media, with nearly all high-schoolers spending at least 30 minutes a day in that realm.
This by no means indicates they are using all that time in nefarious ways, but does show the opportunity. This has caused coaches to have to pay attention to what their athletes are doing and saying.
“The only reason I have a twitter account is to follow my players,” North Royalton volleyball coach Kristen Hubbell said. “I’m very diligent on that with them as far as pictures they post, things they say.”
The common theme among area coaches is to keep it positive. If you can’t say something nice, etc.
“For us, it’s whatever your grandmother can read,” Brunswick boys soccer coach Ben Dotson said. “We’re pretty strict about it, not because we want to be a pain, but more or less, if you look at today’s world, it’s really about life lessons. Once you put it out there it’s out there forever.”
For coaches, using social media is a way to get messages to the masses, both on and off their teams. For athletic directors, announcing cancellations, postponements and other schedule-related items has become uber-simplified.
Teams can announce game results and stats. Coaches can – and many do – post motivational messages, as well as lay out cyber pats on players backs, making public their approval of behaviors or outcomes.
National recruiting analyst Mike Farrell told the Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, “Twitter will obviously cause more harm than good for high school prospects. We’ve seen players lose scholarship offers and interest from schools based on their Twitter timeline, and if I’m a high school coach looking out for the best interests of my player and I see him tweet something stupid just once, I’m doing him a disservice by not making him delete his account. The question needs to be asked: What good can come from it compared to what harm can it cause?”
The one thing nearly every coach and athletic director in the area seems to agree on is, if something goes out on social media that has any kind of negative purpose, it will find its way back to people in charge and there will be consequences.
Kids are social media savvy. They know their apps. They know the latest trends. They know how to create fake accounts and can cover their tracks. What they can’t do, though, is make sure everyone else keeps their tracks covered for them.
Once things are shared, they eventually make their way to people whom the initial senders wish they hadn’t. They think their coaches and administrators won’t find out, but nearly invariably, they will.
“They know I’m watching,” Strongsville boys basketball coach Darren Collins said. “And I let them know that they are representing more than just themselves.”
Be it Voltaire, Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt or Spider-Man, whomever it was who coined that phrase, he definitely didn’t tweet it, Snapchat it or post it to Instagram.
The world, thanks to social media, has suddenly gone live. Be it Facebook, Periscope, YouTube or whatever flavor of the month game-changing app is launched next week, kids suddenly have a lot more power than they used to.
And like most power, the use of social media seems more likely to corrupt. If you’re over 30, you’ve probably said something along the lines of “I’m glad they didn’t have that when I was in high school.”
Because social media lead to a lot of anti-social behavior, the type of things most kids seem to do but those in prior generations didn’t have to worry about the world seeing.
Kids already had plenty of ways to get themselves in trouble and social media has added a few more to that. The problem with this epidemic is, the world indeed can see the misdeeds.
This in turn has caused a new set of headaches for high school coaches and administrators, as the worldwide web has turned into a giant bulletin board for trash talk, taunting and all sorts of verbal shenanigans.
Though, as Rittman athletic director/baseball coach Joe Staley implores. “Don’t hit send!”, kids have no safety net in the form of self-control. They exist in a shoot-first, answer questions later world of instant gratification.
A Los Angeles Times survey conducted in June found that among high school students, half have more than three social media apps, and nearly all have at least one; 84 percent believe the internet is a safe place, and nearly half of students spend two or more hours per day on social media, with nearly all high-schoolers spending at least 30 minutes a day in that realm.
This by no means indicates they are using all that time in nefarious ways, but does show the opportunity. This has caused coaches to have to pay attention to what their athletes are doing and saying.
“The only reason I have a twitter account is to follow my players,” North Royalton volleyball coach Kristen Hubbell said. “I’m very diligent on that with them as far as pictures they post, things they say.”
The common theme among area coaches is to keep it positive. If you can’t say something nice, etc.
“For us, it’s whatever your grandmother can read,” Brunswick boys soccer coach Ben Dotson said. “We’re pretty strict about it, not because we want to be a pain, but more or less, if you look at today’s world, it’s really about life lessons. Once you put it out there it’s out there forever.”
For coaches, using social media is a way to get messages to the masses, both on and off their teams. For athletic directors, announcing cancellations, postponements and other schedule-related items has become uber-simplified.
Teams can announce game results and stats. Coaches can – and many do – post motivational messages, as well as lay out cyber pats on players backs, making public their approval of behaviors or outcomes.
National recruiting analyst Mike Farrell told the Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, “Twitter will obviously cause more harm than good for high school prospects. We’ve seen players lose scholarship offers and interest from schools based on their Twitter timeline, and if I’m a high school coach looking out for the best interests of my player and I see him tweet something stupid just once, I’m doing him a disservice by not making him delete his account. The question needs to be asked: What good can come from it compared to what harm can it cause?”
The one thing nearly every coach and athletic director in the area seems to agree on is, if something goes out on social media that has any kind of negative purpose, it will find its way back to people in charge and there will be consequences.
Kids are social media savvy. They know their apps. They know the latest trends. They know how to create fake accounts and can cover their tracks. What they can’t do, though, is make sure everyone else keeps their tracks covered for them.
Once things are shared, they eventually make their way to people whom the initial senders wish they hadn’t. They think their coaches and administrators won’t find out, but nearly invariably, they will.
“They know I’m watching,” Strongsville boys basketball coach Darren Collins said. “And I let them know that they are representing more than just themselves.”
