Melissa Bour, a teacher at Emerson Elementary School in Oklahoma, wanted to teach her students about the dangers of posting inappropriate material on social media but ended up learning an important lesson herself.
Bour wanted to teach her six-grade math and science students how quickly photos and links can spread on Facebook, and she was surprised at how her student’s initially responded to her lesson.
From NBC:
“I noticed more and more pictures were showing up that were inappropriate,” she told TODAY. “So I used a teachable moment. I got out a piece of computer paper and a green pen and I wrote a little note.”
The letter quickly went viral, showing up in every U.S. state, and even in foreign countries like Saudi Arabia, Germany, and Australia. The lesson made its impact. Bour’s students said the experience showed them that what they do online now could haunt them years later.
This is the note Bour shared on her Facebook page:
“My 12-year-old students think it is ‘no big deal’ that they are posting pictures of themselves in bras or with their middle finger in the air,” the note said. “Please help me out by sharing this image and commenting with where you live to show these young students how quickly their images can get around.”
A news report on this teacher’s viral lesson is in the video below:
“I’m not going to put any more photos on my Facebook, and I’m not going to comment on anything that I like or dislike,” Peyton Piguet told “Today.”
Fellow student Xavier Ingram agreed.
“Say I want to be the president,” Ingram said. “That might affect me becoming president.”
The image has been taken down but the lesson continues to reverberate.
This really is an important lesson that we can all learn from. While a post on Facebook, or any other social media platform, may seem innocent it can stay with us for years to come!
As a result, many people are simply disconnecting from social media, ensuring that their digital presence is non-existent and will not follow them in life.
Do you think these students learned a valuable lesson from their teacher? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!