Bill Massey: Snapchat not an educational aid

The Sept. 23 news article “Wake County blocks Snapchat app at schools” alleged that the social media app “serves no instructional purpose.”

The biggest indicator that school officials may be correct in that assertion is the resultant uproar by students claiming that losing access to the app “ruins their school day.” Or, as one student noted in his Twitter post, “Blocking Snapchat just makes me dread school even more.”

The intrinsic value of Snapchat, by the way, is that users can send photos and videos to their friends and have them automatically disappear after a short period of time. Hmm, now why would that feature be important to teenagers?

As a recently retired educator, I think access to cellphones and social media in classrooms has been a tremendous detriment to public school education, and they will remain so because, as we will probably soon see when Wake County public schools relents to the ensuing student uproar and unblocks Snapchat, the wrath of an irate teenager is a tremendous inconvenience for parents, teachers and administrators to endure.

According to the article, 124 students have signed an online petition to have Snapchat reinstated, claiming it’s a “fun way to enjoy school.” I wonder what scrutiny of the grades of those students would reveal.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Bill Massey: Snapchat not an educational aid."