At the end of the 2020-21 school year, Paso Robles High School's last day of classes consisted of two separate cohorts of students coming to classes for 15 minutes. It's unclear what exactly was supposed to be accomplished in these super-short classes, it was anticipated that attendance would be low, and the teachers I was doing long-term substituting for didn't really have anything important planned. So, I worked up a short presentation for the students on a subject I've been railing about for years: Social Media is a Cesspool.

A year or two ago, when times were normal, I was substituting for a teacher on the day that students have their "Tutorial" class. This period, once a week, usually consists of an opportunity for students to get caught up on classwork, do some group projects, or just study. On occasion, school administrators or district bigwigs will have some sort of lesson they want taught that doesn't fit into any particular class, but they believe offers some benefit to the students. On this particular day we were given some slides and an outline of a presentation warning kids about the dangers of social media.

To say that this presentation was boring and not particularly informative about some real dangers high school students might face on social media is an understatement. After quickly flipping through the provided slides and seeing a group of students more disinterested than normal, I mentioned the infamous Justine Sacco and warned kids that similar things could happen to them. Of course, over the years, more and more people have found themselves cancelled, on occasion, after comments made on social media when they weren't yet able to imbibe alcohol or even sign a contract are unearthed.

If you're a teacher, or even just a parent, interested in warning kids about the dangers of social media, then feel free to use this. The PowerPoint deck is here. You can find .jpg images below the break.