A School of Communications staff member and student emphasized empathy and the permanence of the Internet to high school students at The Burlington School.
Colin Donohue ’05, coordinator of student media and instructor in Elon University’s School of Communications, and Emily Hines ’15, a strategic communications major, delivered a Nov. 21 presentation to high school students of The Burlington School on maintaining integrity on social media.
Donohue and Hines offered anecdotes and examples about the permanence of the Internet and how social media can be both helpful and destructive. They stressed the importance of engaging with people face-to-face and developing empathy, which is easy to lose during online conversations.
The presentation ended with their nine tips for how students may consider using social media, which included thinking ethically, branding, remembering their audience and having fun.
“Every time you meet someone, every time you put something online, every time you produce work, you’re branding yourself,” Donohue said during the discussion. “In some ways, you can control this brand by monitoring your output and your interactions with others. Your brand is everything you are and everything others think you are.”
The Burlington School is an independent pre-kindergarten to 12th grade college preparatory school. In 2013, the Burlington Day School and The Elon School merged to form what is now The Burlington School.