Heart Your Haters - The Reality of Social Media

*WARNING* - This lesson deals with some sensitive topics.  Please use discretion when using this with students.

Objective: Students will be able to demonstrate how to properly navigate negativity and mean behavior on social media.

Procedures:

1. Watch the video.

2. Talk about Charli's struggles.  She's got so much fame, fortune, fans, and followers.  At age 17, her earnings from social media were right around $18 million.  Why do you think she has such a rough mental and emotional state?

3. This documentary is obviously a few years old.  At the time, did it seem like Charli was able to handle being a social media star?  Why or why not?

4. What was Charli's biggest issue?  What was at the heart of it all?  (perfectionism and approval addiction)

5. How do you think her parents handled things?  If you disagree with them, what do you think they should have done differently?

6. Talk about the acronymn HEART.  What did each letter stand for?
Did their comments Help you improve in anyway?
Did their comments Entertain you?
Did their comments Advise you?
Did their comments Rebuke you?
Did their comments Toughen you?

7. What is the most simple strategy to deal with haters on social media?

8. Ultimately, if someone cannot emotionally handle being on social media, what should they do?

Closing: The best way to handle haters on social media is to gain the emotional maturity to be on social media in the first place, and then always respond with the Golden Rule - which in this case is to just give the comment a heart or a thumbs up, and keep on scrolling.