Technolandy

Day 2 (of 2026/27) Social Media in the current School Year

by far the most powerful media format 

along with the fastest uptake of users 

and compelling because it enables the OG communication styles

 visual 

auditory

Societal

– if Aristotle had instagram, written text would not have been bothered with beyond a niche boutique industry) 

but if the concept is we ban it 

… till a birthday with the assumption learners will suddenly ‘just get it’ 

why don’t we do the same with decoding text… 

Keep books away from kids till they’re 16…

Then they’ll figure out The Brothers Karmazov!

since we ignore the minority neurologies anyways… sorry – that was last Tuesdays focus: https://technolandy.com/2026/09/01/sol-summer-of-learning-2026-school-goals-reading-what-does-your-brain-do-reading-edition/

But then the government got involve…

Bill C34 with good intent… 

is it good?

To ban the bad medias from youth… so yes, good… good-ish

Assuming that at age 16 it’ll all just make sense to them, 

And they can be affective consumers and creators?

Sigh

Cuz as I reflect, I am not helping…

As an educator and as a school, I/we have:

YouTube shares

Instagram

Facebook

(And tiktok for the individual)

And WordPress…

I know we like to say/justify that

The target audience is the adults…

Repeat the mantra… the target audience is adults.

So was Joe Camel.

So is cotton candy vape juice

So are in-app purchases. 

So are book shares from librarians…

And highlight videos from schools…

And funny creations from educators… 

And highlights from sports events…

And fine arts activities… 

Like and Follow us for more!!

Teaching digital citizenship…

while removing the digital spaces where citizenship actually happens.

Teaching media literacy…

using media students aren’t supposed to use.

Maybe that’s the part I keep getting stuck on.

We don’t teach swimming by keeping learners out of the water until they’re 16.

We don’t teach driving by handing someone the keys on their 16th birthday and saying:

Good luck.

We model.

We practise.

We supervise.

We gradually release responsibility.

If only we had some sort of publicly funded place where young people could gather with knowledgeable adults and safely practise complicated things before being expected to navigate them independently…

I freely admit I live in a state of hypocrisy – 

Many winter ties with christmas themes…

hallowe’en and valentines too…

Off work on the state sponsored ‘easter vacation time’

teaching students how to navigate the most influential communication medium of their generation…

while also telling them they shouldn’t be there.