REBECCA Hay (Letters, March 5) seems to be concerned that schools often use social media to promote their activities.
The fact is that young people today have grown up in a different world from Ms Hay and myself. In a world where there is a constant tension between technological determinism and social determinism I suggest that the former will always be the big cheese. Unless someone joins a group with a philosophy similar to the Amish then the social effects, intended or otherwise, which come with communication technology are here to stay in our daily lives.
This is not however a new aspect of life: Alexander Graham Bell patented his wonderful telephone in 1876 and yet I am still getting unwanted nuisance calls on mine. This aspect of modern communication is something I have learned to live with without being taught. Young people have to learn, firstly from their parents, that if something seems too good to be true then it almost certainly is.
The suggested over-use of social media by schools, which I feel is the core of the concerns she expressed, perhaps illustrates that the message is in the medium. One lesson her son must learn in this world of quick texts and instant publication of photos is to develop the life skill of a worldly scepticism and doubtfulness of any attempt to influence him through social media. Parents have a duty to drill down into all social media for their children and edit out or reveal what is really behind the seductive flimflam.
Bill Brown,
46 Breadie Drive, Milngavie.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here