Director's Wave | Volume 5 Edition 4

Dear CIS Community,

Something to Ponder

“The more social media we have, the more we think we're connecting, yet we are really disconnecting from each other.” - JR (JeanRene)

“Social media is changing the way we communicate and the way we are perceived, both positively and negatively. Every time you post a photo, or update your status, you are contributing to your own digital footprint and personal brand.” - Amy Jo Martin

The omnipresence, reach, and influence of social media platforms is startling. Indeed, the rate of social media use is astonishing, and is even more startling when considering the following approximate numbers from 2024 so far for 12 different devices / platforms/ social media.

• Cell Phones - There are about 15 billion cell phones in use worldwide
  • Noting that the world has 8 billion people - it seems people are taking advantage of having two ears
• Email - There are about 4.5 billion email users worldwide
  • Roughly 350 billion emails sent and received each day - no doubt everyone's personal and business email has zero unread.
• Texting - About 23 billion texts are sent each day
  • This is about 270,000 texts every second
• Reddit - THere are about 430 million active monthly users
  • Yes, Reddit is making a comeback - or perhaps it is not a comeback it has been here for years
• Facebook - About 3 billion monthly active users worldwide
  • The minimum age to use Facebook is 13 (older in some regions) - yet many people under 13 have accounts (even if Facebook is deemed by the young to be a platform for “old people.”
• Youtube - There are approximately 2.7 billion active Youtube users
  • Over 50% of internet users access Youtube at least once a month
• WhatsApp - Over 2.4 billion users worldwide
  • WhatsApp is rated as a 16 plus app.
• Instagram - Over 2.3 billion monthly users worldwide - an average of 95 million photos are shared per day
  • The minimum age to use Instagram is 13 (older in some regions)
• TikTok - There are roughly 1.7 billion TikTok users
  • The minimum age to use TikTok is 13 (older in some regions) - yet many people under 13 regularly use TikTok
• Snapchat - Over 800 million regular users worldwide
  • The minimum age to use Snapchat is 13 (older in some regions) - yet many people under 13 regularly use Snapchat
• LinkedIn - About 310 million people use this on a monthly basis
  • It seems that advertisers are becoming more and more active on this platform
• X (Twitter) - About 500 million active monthly users
  • The minimum age recommended is 13 (older in some regions)
• OnlyFans - Is reported to have an average of 420 million monthly active users
  • OnlyFans is said to be for people over the age of 18, thus there are no parental controls. Also, OnlyFans is reported to not be responsible for reporting content that violate their user terms
• Omegle - It is reported that there about 235 million active users of Omegle
  • This can be a particularly dangerous platform - noting one of its tag lines was / is “talk to strangers.”

The quotations shared above are meant to highlight the notion that social media has dangers, issues and benefits. There is the good side for sure; sharing updates with family on a different continent is certainly a great example of social media’s good side. Yet, social media is also the bastion of cyberbullying, cybercrime, and poor judgment. This great tool/platform of communication and learning is also a great tool/platform for all manner of exploitation. Some estimates are as high as 90% of young people in North America and Europe experience adverse social media effects.

Some of the most common issues people should know about (correction - these are issues people are generally aware of but tend to gloss over because not having access to social media is not an option in many people’s minds). Common Sense Media highlights the following features as being most problematic and dangerous.

• Ads and In-App Purchases - examples include - Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok
• Age-Inappropriate Content - examples include - Instagram, HIve Social, Snapchat, TikTok, Tumblr
• Public Default Settings - Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter
• Anonymity - Lipsi, LMK: Anonymous Polls, Tellonym
• Cyberbullying - Instagram, Snapchat, Roblox, Twitter -pretty much all forms of social media for that matter
• Location Tracking and Sharing - Find My Friends, Instagram, Snapchat, Twenty, Twitter
• Random Video Chat - HOLLA, Monkey, Wink
• Real-Time Video Streaming - YouNow, Instagram, Twitch
• Secret Chat Rooms - Discord, IMVU
• So-Called Temporary Pictures and Videos - Confide, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Telegram Messenger
• Toxic Culture - 4Chan, Discord, Twitch - pretty much all forms of social media and devices depending on the person.

Unfortunately, there is no fail safe way to protect our children - and ourselves for that matter - when it comes to the challenges of social media. There is wide agreement however, that talking with our children about responsible and safe use is the most valuable way to stave off the darkside of social media and promote the good side. I wonder too, that in the future will social media contain stark messages about health (like we see on packs of cigarettes) as a warning to proceed with caution - or - will society find a way to effectively and safely use social media as a powerful learning tool.

Please note that students have an extended weekend because there are no classes for students on Monday 16 September - their classes resume on Tuesday 17 September.

Sincerely,

Jim Urquhart
Director - Cayman International School