7 Tips for Handling Viral Challenges in Your Classroom

The National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the United States, has sent a letter to the CEOs of TikTok, Facebook Inc., Instagram, and Twitter Inc. calling for control over the spread of viral challenges and false information on their social media platforms. These viral challenges and the spread of misinformation have made educators’ lives significantly challenging this past year. 

What put these educators over the edge was a recent challenge that encouraged students to steal property from school bathrooms, such as soap dispensers and toilet seats. A more recent challenge involves slapping teachers. In addition to extreme challenges that take place in schools, social media has provided a way to rapidly spread opinions and information that have led to violence. Violent content and false information about COVID-19, school mandates, and critical race theory have encouraged people to threaten schools over mandates and teaching about race in schools. Spreading misinformation and polarizing opinions through algorithms has greatly threatened our teachers’ well-being and their ability to teach our country’s youth. 

Why do online challenges become so popular? Dr. Jennifer Hettema claims that “community” and “connection” are the answers. Teenagers are trying to find community and acceptance, a natural human desire, in a time where connection has perhaps felt weakened for many. We should also note that teenagers’ brains are not fully developed at this age, making it easier for teenagers not to see the dangers of their actions before they occur. But it is clear our educators feel that our human desire to feel connected through the community has crossed the line to dangerous behavior and thinking. Here are a few additional reasons that students are so willing to participate in these challenges according to High-Speed Training and Verywell Mind: 

• Desire for attention
• Connection
• Popularity
• Rebellion against parents 
• Impulsiveness
• Peer pressure

The National Education Association sent the letter to popular social media platforms asking that they “fix [their] algorithms to put public safety over profits.” An algorithm is a code used for “sorting posts based on relevancy instead of publish time, in order to prioritize which content a user sees first...” according to the Institute of Internet and Just Society. An effective algorithm means social media users engage with the content that they see in their feed at a high rate. Algorithms are often based on engagement with past posts but can also be based on content that people of a similar demographic engage with. Calling on a change to the algorithms of modern social media platforms could potentially change what students, and ourselves, see day to day, and therefore greatly influence our youth and their behavior. 

Awareness of popular challenges and their dangers can help educators be prepared for student behavior on their school campuses. Our team wants our educators to feel safe in their own classroom as well as equipped to handle community problems. We have provided advice for educators and schools to take during the current epidemic of viral challenges: 

1. Research your concern. If you suspect behavior in your classroom is a result of an online challenge, research the challenge before communicating with parents about your concerns. There have been several viral challenges that have been discovered to be “hoaxes” meant to cause panic and were never real. Understand the situation before informing others about it.  
   
   
2. Keep parents up to date. Students most likely experience most of their social media intake outside of your classroom, so communicate with the individuals who can meet them where they are. Communicate with parents and caregivers about what is going on in your classroom. Encourage parents to be aware of the content that their child is consuming and encourage them to talk to their children about proper internet safety measures and respect in the classroom. 
   
   
3. Do not address challenges by their name. Viral challenges typically have names associated with them, but we have not included any names in this post for the following reason: naming challenges can spread the popularity of the challenge even more. After hearing about a new trend or challenge, students or parents are likely to go look it up online. The more the content is viewed and/or shared, the more likely it is to get spread by an algorithm and social media users. 
   
   
4. Acknowledge peer pressure. Students will potentially participate in these challenges due to peer pressure. It may be appropriate to have a discussion about peer pressure in your classroom to encourage and provide options to students who feel pressured to participate in uncomfortable behavior such as viral challenges, at school or otherwise. 
   
   
5. Discuss how to report on social media. The nature of social media allows for freedom to say personal thoughts and opinions. Students might find themselves coming across content that isn’t appropriate or is dangerous to themselves or others. Empower students to report inappropriate content by showing them how to do so on various platforms. 
   
   
6. Plan your response ahead of time. Viral challenges aren’t going away. Plan ahead for how you will handle students participating in viral challenges and/or using social media in your classroom. Having this planned ahead will help you deal with the problem more efficiently when the time comes.
   
   
7. Create a safe environment. Whether it be students, parents, or other educators, be open to discussions about how individuals are feeling about troubles in the classroom. Making our struggles known to trusted individuals can strengthen us through confusing times. Encourage your students and parents to speak with you about their concerns regarding unsafe behavior.

We hope these 7 tips help keep you and your students safe during this upcoming school year! In addition to the advice provided above, Mobile Ed Productions, Inc. has created a popular assembly known as Inspector Iwannano, a character-building assembly that may be beneficial for your classroom. This assembly teaches students through a character-based mystery where they will discover what it means to be respectful, trustworthy, compassionate, responsible, and a good citizen. 

The Mobile Ed blog provides beneficial resources for educators every week. Feel free to contact us at 800-433-7459 with any questions or interests.