海角大神

As a fellow parent put it, 鈥淚t blows me away that she got suspended for telling it like it is (from her perspective).鈥�

He was talking about the story of high school freshman Jessica Barba, who 鈥� for a school assignment 鈥� created a video and Facebook profile of a fictional 12-year-old who, the story goes, committed suicide because she was bullied. The real-life drama continued when some 鈥渃oncerned parent鈥� saw the fake profile but apparently not the disclaimers in it that this was fiction and called her local police, who called the school, which subsequently suspended Jessica for five days, later unsuspending her during a hearing held while Jessica and her parents appeared on NBC鈥檚听Today Show.

(Adding absurdity to the pile of mistakes on just about everybody's part, including news reporters, author Judith Warner wrote in Time.com聽that the "outrage" in all this was how her teachers would "allow this girl, like so very many of her peers, to reach nearly the end of 10th grade without a solid grasp of written English." Really, Ms. Warner, this was your main takeaway?)

By all accounts, Jessica was honestly 鈥渢elling it like it is鈥� 鈥� in a school assignment 鈥� from her perspective. Of course she shouldn鈥檛 be punished for that, and that part of the story had a happy ending. She was allowed back to school and the suspension was erased from her school record.

But her perspective illustrated the most important takeaway from this experience: how it parroted back the misinformation, hyperbole, and fear her generation has been fed by (probably mostly well-meaning but) misinformed reporters, policymakers, school officials, and Internet-safety advocates. Very unfortunately, I鈥檓 hearing more and more kids echoing the misinformation they and their parents have been getting.

Echo chamber of dangerous messaging

For example, Jessica鈥檚 video suggests she learned somewhere that suicide naturally follows bullying, which is dangerously simplistic 鈥� not a message that should be spread. I doubt she鈥檇 take much comfort in this, but her video has something in common with the recently released film "Bully," supposedly one of the more 鈥渟ensitive鈥� accounts of this age-old problem.

Here鈥檚 how the聽American Foundation for Suicide Prevention聽put it: "Bully" is an example of 鈥渁n increasingly pervasive media narrative that portrays youth suicide as a normative and rational response to being bullied. In addition to misinforming the public, there is considerable evidence that such narratives can spark imitative behavior in vulnerable individuals, a phenomenon referred to as suicide contagion.鈥�

As a society, we must not create an echo chamber of dangerous messaging, especially where suicide is concerned. Jessica鈥檚 video represents the echo.

Adults need a 鈥榝ilter,鈥� too

Another important takeaway from this story is how much more intelligently we鈥檒l be able to work with young people if we don鈥檛 take what we see in their online communication and expression at face value or in a vacuum. There鈥檚 usually offline context to what happens online 鈥� it鈥檚 embedded in everyday life, and for young people, school life, sociality, and relationships.

Facebook isn鈥檛 a context, really; life is the context for what happens in Facebook. Jessica鈥檚 online video and fake Facebook profile were for a聽school assignment.

鈥淏ecause of the digital revolution, we each need to develop better filters, screens and BS detectors to sort through the information blizzard of daily life,鈥� writes author, speaker and digital-age consultant Don Tapscott in Part 3 of his 鈥淟iving Out Loud鈥� series at聽HuffingtonPost.com.

So we don鈥檛 need just to teach our kids to develop those filters, but ourselves as well. And we鈥檙e applying that filter to a much broader range of content. Our children are learning to apply it to their peers鈥� social content in whatever media (as are their peers to theirs) as well as professionally produced content, and we鈥檙e learning to apply it to our children鈥檚 expression and communication in media as much as to those of our peers, whether personal or professional.

This is media literacy now, right? And it needs to be applied not only to what鈥檚 in-coming, but also to what鈥檚 out-going 鈥� what we鈥檙e producing, sharing, texting, etc. By the nature of today鈥檚 media, whether used by a 15-year-old or a 50-year-old, it can鈥檛 easily be separated from social literacy or digital literacy, and it requires healthy doses of both critical thinking and compassion.

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best family and parenting bloggers out there. Our contributing and guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor, and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. Anne Collier blogs at聽