Teaching “Against” Social Media: Confronting Problems of Profit in the Curriculum

Abstract

Educators increasingly teach with social media in varied ways, but they may do so without considering the ways in which social media corporations profit from their uses or compromise transparency, equity, health, safety, and democracy through the design of platforms. There is a lack of scholarship that addresses the curricular topics that educators might investigate to teach about social media platforms and the potential challenges they pose for education and society. In this article, we draw on sociotechnical theories that conceive of social media as microsystems to understand the relationship between users, education, and social media companies. We identify and describe five topics concerning social media design that educators can consider and investigate with students in a variety of settings: user agreements and use of data; algorithms of oppression, echo, and extremism; distraction, user choice, and access for nonusers; harassment and cyberbullying; and gatekeeping for accurate information. In each case, we suggest curricular possibilities for teaching about social media platforms that draw from intersections of curriculum, media, and educational studies.

Instagramming for Justice: The Potentials and Pitfalls of Culturally Relevant Professional Learning on Instagram

“…Teachers must also grapple with how the for-profit nature of social media platforms arguably conflicts with understandings of teachers’ work as a public good (Krutka et al, 2019 ). They might explore the role platform algorithms play in what influencers post and what followers see, such as the prioritizing of giveaways and tagging other popular accounts.…”

“…Social media platforms are for-profit entities that operate under capitalist principles (Krutka et al, 2019 ; Srnicek, 2016 ). When a teacher opens Instagram, they are not simply shown all posts from the accounts they follow; rather platform algorithms “manage and massage” content, determining which posts each user sees (Vaidhyanathan, 2018 , p. 144).…”

Adjusting sails for changing winds: exploring Reddit use for professional purposes in higher education

“…A questionnaire may help obtain insights regarding what motivates some higher education professionals to actively contribute to discussions or merely read discussions. Notably, this additional investigation may reveal various reasons why people remain in a peripheral position (Romero-Hall et al, 2020 ) and which barriers (e.g., privacy issues, disreputable behaviors, and the spread of misinformation) hinder successful knowledge-seeking through social media platforms (Dabbagh et al, 2015 ; Krutka et al, 2019 ; Romero-Hall, 2021 ). Interviews can also reveal how (i.e., in what ways) and why (i.e., for what reasons) higher education professionals turn to Reddit for professional purposes.…”

Narrative Scripts Embedded in Social Media Towards Empowering Digital and Self-protection Skills

“…Different media literacy initiatives have taken place in order to promote both digital skills and social media awareness (e.g. [8], [9]). Although educating about SM currently involves different issues, there is still the need to promote SM awareness; especially when interventions have centered on traditional methods such as the persuasive discourses based on fear and risks, in addition to the formal structure some of these have adopted within the school curricula [9].…”