In order to learn about online presence and the importance of safety on social media platforms, Souderton students attended the annual ADL (Anti-Defamation League) Conference in Philadelphia on December 11, 2024.
According to junior Shivahn Becht, it was a meaningful opportunity to meet other students and share experiences.
“My favorite part of the ADL conference was getting to learn about the experiences of other people that I may have been blind to previously,” Becht said. “Meeting everyone and hearing them talk made it easy to imagine what going through certain struggles can feel like.”
According to family and consumer science teacher Allyson Fitzpatrick, the breakout sessions that students attended following the guest speaker’s presentation at the conference allowed students to get to know other students from different backgrounds.
“They were with kids from all types of schools, from all kinds of religions and identities and walks of life,” Fitzpatrick said, “and I think it gave them a safe space to be open, because they weren’t with somebody who really knew them.”
This year, the conference’s speaker was Boston University researcher Jill Walsh. Her presentation highlighted social media usage, especially in younger generations, and how important it is for younger people to be informed about the media.
“I think because [social media has] become so central to our lives, and it’s so much a part of people’s social experiences, that I think it’s really important that we understand these platforms,” Walsh said.
According to Walsh, it is important to understand the dangers and damage that social media has the potential to provide.
“I think for me, what I’m looking at there is how often the hate contents are connected to dehumanizing people,” Walsh said.
Many users of these platforms, Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok, etc., use content to spread hate that is targeted towards specific groups of people.
“Digital blackface was the idea of white entertainers wearing blackface makeup and acting black, right for entertainment purposes [on social media], and obviously being very offensive,” Walsh said.
For Walsh, while she sees that there are many problems to be found online and in different social media platforms, she believes there are also a lot of positive aspects to these spaces that are important to recoginze.
“I think the notion of being able to connect with your friends [through social media], when that’s going well, that’s awesome,” Walsh said. “I also love that it helps connect people with different organizations as well.”
Social studies teacher Nicole Harner saw the conference as a valuable lesson for students who are trying to find a balance between online and offline experiences.
“I think that it is so important for your generation and future generations to understand the validity and the merit of the news and the information they’re hearing [from social media],” Harner said.