Social Media

By Beth Hanning

Social media is both good and bad. Too much of it can be detrimental to one’s mental health and some people can be seen as super annoying, and it makes you change your opinion of them.

However, since TikTok has come around and “Reels” are posted on various sites, I am quite thankful for a few things:

Teaching middle school: This is my first year in many years being a 7th grade teacher and boy, do they know how to push your buttons. My catchphrase this year is, “You just can’t help yourself.” On the “Reels” part of Facebook, I found a middle school teacher who parodies teaching these wonderful students and it makes me feel as if I am not alone. It is not me. They are not just trying to push MY buttons. It is all of them!

Marriage: It is nice to know that my husband is not the only husband who cannot remember ANYTHING. (Except how many yards a certain football player ran or threw for in 2000.) The reels and memes are amazing. One such video shows a man afraid to ask his wife what they have coming up over the weekend. The caption reads: “Me afraid to ask my wife what we have this weekend because I do know she told me 1,000 times.” I should note that after 30+ years of marriage, we are making progress thanks to shared calendars. My brother-in-law even texted me recently: “Do we have anything the 9th?” I was super proud.

Fatherhood: Again, I thought it was just my husband who could not remember people’s names. When my oldest was in elementary school and she was discussing a classmate and mentioned a young lady  Jennifer, my husband asked: “Who, Jennifer Lopez?” One video had an entire montage of fathers being quizzed in the street about various items such as: their children’s teachers’ names, the name of their dentist and their birthday. Some fathers did not know the answer to one question!

Parenting: So, my daughters are older but as my dad used to say, “Beth Ann, the job is for life.” You never stop worrying, EVER. The memes that show a car going over a cliff with the caption “What my mother thinks when I do not answer her text or call.” Yes, that is exactly what we think. I have watched too many “Dateline” episodes to feel relaxed about raising daughters.

So even though it is frustrating to know that my students cannot enter a room without jumping to reach the top of the door frame and acting like they are in a game of some sort, it does make me feel better to know other teachers have to deal with it too. And it has been quite eye opening to know sooo many wives and moms have to deal with the lack of memory for what we feel are important items.

So TikTokers and meme makers, keep the jokes coming in the cold days of winter. They are keeping me entertained.

Have a great week everyone. Let’s hope it warms up.