On smartphones and social media

Our kids (both 13) do not have smartphones. Yes, I know I’m a freak-parent for this day and age, but I’ll wear that one like a badge of honor. In a recent discussion about my and my wife’s horrible behavior, I was told by a friend as we discussed how much my children have “suffered” under our regime’s tough standards that “there’s nothing wrong with 7th graders having iPhones.” We agreed to disagree, and I continue to hear the moans and groans of my teens as they begrudge me for making them so “different” at school.

Smartphones and social media in and of themselves are neither good nor bad. It’s what you do with either that can be either good or bad. We’re taking this time to let our kids see how good or bad both can be from the outside looking in as a kind of training before we turn them loose with their own devices.

In Thursday’s Digital Marketing class at General Assembly, we ended the class with a lesson of sorts, prompted by this blog post, as we contrasted how Arby’s won the 2014 Grammys versus how Justine Sacco’s life was ruined by three tweets to her 170 Twitter followers.

Notice the engagement on the Arby’s tweet. Amazing. The hat in question later generated thousands of dollars for charity. Wins all around. The power of social media.

Then the opposite. With three tweets, the last of which was simply extraordinarily offensive on so many different levels, a young lady’s life was changed forever.

• “ ‘Weird German Dude: You’re in First Class. It’s 2014. Get some deodorant.’ — Inner monologue as I inhale BO. Thank God for pharmaceuticals.”
• “Chilly — cucumber sandwiches — bad teeth. Back in London!”
• “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!”

This is the power of social media. Sacco posted these tweets minutes before boarding an 11-hour flight, on which she turned off her phone and had no knowledge that #HasJustineLandedYet had become the top trend worldwide on Twitter.

You can’t train the wit and excellence that won the Grammys for Arby’s, but you can teach users of social media to think twice, read thrice, and be nice, even when they have only 170 followers on Twitter. We teach that “your brand is everything you do” in this DGM class. In this case, Sacco was employed by IAC, and their brand had to take the heat for Sacco’s actions.

This is why my kids don’t have iPhones or social media accounts yet. They will someday, but until then, every day is training day.