Should Schools Control Students' Social Media Accounts?

Nowadays, parents expect schools to do everything—teach good values, ensure academic success, and even help manage their children's behavior on social media. While schools can take responsibility for academics, controlling what students do on social media after school is a very tough job.

Social media can be both helpful and harmful. Many children use social media to stay connected, but some also use it to show off or make others jealous. For example, they might post about shopping or vacations to make their friends feel bad. Others might leave rude comments on pictures or posts, causing problems among friends.

Parents sometimes ask schools to help with these issues. It is understandable that they want their children to be safe and learn good values, but expecting schools to control social media use outside of school hours is unrealistic. Schools try to teach students about the pros and cons of social media through lessons and counselors. However, many students ignore this advice.

Students need to realize that social media can be a useful tool for business and making connections, but it can also be dangerous. Teenagers, who are often impulsive and emotional, might make bad choices like stalking others or hacking accounts.

While schools can encourage students not to use social media or teach them about online safety, they cannot stop students from having accounts. The responsibility for managing social media use ultimately falls on the students and their parents.

In the end, schools can guide students, but controlling their social media behavior outside of school is a challenge that cannot be fully handled by the school alone.