With the latest round of social media leaks making waves today, this time impacting Snapchat users, I’m in the odd place of looking like an Old Testament prophet.
I’m not a prophet.
I simply applied long-standing principles of social media to the current wave of ephemeral apps popular today.
And here’s the deal: I love to share those principles of social media with anyone who will listen– teenagers in school, teenagers at church, teenagers in a social club, teachers, parents, youth workers, etc.
In 2013-2014 I spoke in dozens of classrooms, school assemblies, youth group meetings, parent groups, conference, and even a farm safety day. I’ve spoke to grandparents trying to sort out what their grandchildren are doing on their phones and I’ve spoken to kindergartners about picking games that are fun and safe for them.
If you’d like me to come to talk to your group… let’s chat.
Here’s What I Don’t Do
I’m not a “scared straight” speaker. I don’t find that trying to scare teenagers or parents about all the bad things that can happen with social media affects any change.
Here’s What I Do
But what does help bring change is two-fold.
- Build understanding
- Create common language
When adults learn both how social media works and why it’s important to the teenagers in their life with some common language that everyone can use to talk about it… they can bridge the gap to get beyond behavior management and into a conversation about shared values.
It’s much more productive to lead people to a place of “Who are we trying to be as a school, family, church and how does social media impact that?” instead of “Why do you take selfies?”
Got Some Samples?
I’m not systematic about getting recordings of every talk, but I do allow groups to record me… so there are plenty of YouTube and Vimeo links out there.
Here’s a few:
Teaching in Church
Leading a Parent Meeting
Conference Presentation for Youth Workers
How to Book Me
If you’d like to have me out in 2015 (or even late 2014) drop me a note on my contact form. I’m willing to work with your organizations needs, budget, schedule, etc.
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