When it comes to social media, many of us understand how truly connected we have become by using social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and even Snapchat. Back in the day (you know when your parents were younger and more fun), if you wanted to talk to someone in a different country, you had to pay for those phone calls. Now, you can talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere (even randos) by using social media. It is scary and brilliant all at the same time. When I traveled in Europe, my mother was amazed that I could easily share with her all of the moments of my trip (in real time) via Snapchat and Facebook. It’s pretty astonishing for people who haven’t grown up with social media their entire lives. If you think about it, it’s pretty mindblowing to kids who are just growing up with it, as well.
Think about it: when we were younger, we were friends with the kids we grew up with and went to school with, and, that was kind of it. We didn’t use social media much as kids because our parents truly didn’t want us talking to strangers (remember the days of AOL chatrooms and A/S/L?) It’s no surprise that today’s kids are growing up the same way, seeing as there can be some crazy things going down on social media. But, when they are introduced to it for the first time, it can be a big wild. Imagine being in the 3rd grade and realizing you can talk to anyone in the world through an app? One 3rd grade teacher from Kansas is showing his students the “power of Twitter” and, it’s pretty insane how he’s doing it.
C.J. Marple from Kansas issued this tweet explaining he wanted to show his 3rd graders the power of Twitter and just how fast information can spread. He posted this on January 8th 2:59 P.M. Currently, I’m writing this at 3:40 P.M. and it already has over 44,000 responses, 119,000 retweets, and 74,000 favorites – in less than one hour. That is crazy within itself.
https://twitter.com/Marple82/status/950457072591785984
But, even wilder is the number of people who responded to C.J.’s tweet and all of the locations they are from.