The Buzz

Children learn by watching adults

A subject that comes up constantly when dealing with school business is the subject of bullying. When we hear this, we usually think of bullying as being that big kid at school picking on the smaller one. That still applies, but in this age of technology, bullying can occur in a much more prominent place. 
Sitting in a Longview restaurant last weekend, my friend and I noticed that at a table of about 10 teenagers, at least six of them had their cell phones out and were reading and texting and so on. It’s not just limited to teenagers.  We all see a lot of adults ‘attached to their phone.’
People, not just kids, say hateful things to each other, face to face. With the advent of email, the face to face contact isn’t there. Then with Twitter and Facebook, it’s like ‘Katie Bar the Door.’ In months of watching people interact on social media, I have seen some really awful things posted and said about others. Really cruel and hurtful things are being said daily.
Maybe it’s the feeling of safety from within the home that people can go online and just feel they can blast anyone any time or call anyone anything they feel like without personal contact in the situation. It is really not surprising that many people I know do not have a Facebook account, nor do they want one.
It’s like a childish game of making friends with someone and then you don’t like what they say and you quick unfriend them, cutting them off, just like that. To most of us adults, it’s no big deal; we didn’t need that friend anyway.  However, some adults can and will be devastated by a few clicks of a keyboard that someone is hateful enough to post.
Facebook is a great tool for families and friends to post pictures and latest news and especially those accomplishments the kids make in school and church. It’s a fast and easy way to share family news and post the newest and latest photos.
It brings to mind what I have read in the greatest book on earth; we will be held accountable for our words. I think if everyone thought of that before they hurled hateful things at one another, a lot of the bickering would cease.  There’s always going to be disagreements; how they are handled is the clue as to how mature a person has grown to be. 
Enjoy Twitter and Facebook and let’s teach our children to always respect the other guy’s opinions and feelings. That never hurt anyone.