The Class Chat
Rules that are different in the chat than in the schoolyard, what a joke can turn into, and how you can calm down an argument in the chat.
Why the chat is different from the schoolyard
In the schoolyard you see other people's faces. You notice whether a remark goes down well or hurts. In the chat that's missing: no face, no voice, no pause. Instead, everyone reads along, everything stays saved, and a screenshot takes two seconds.
That's why things happen faster in the chat that nobody wanted: a joke turns into an insult, a question gets ignored, a picture gets forwarded.
Rules that work
- Quiet at night. No messages after a fixed time, however important.
- No pictures of others without asking. Ever.
- Nothing you wouldn't say out loud in front of the class.
- Not everyone has to reply. Thirty "ok"s are thirty interruptions.
- Don't fight it out in the chat. In the chat everything escalates, face to face it doesn't.
Write in a way you'd still be fine with if your grandma or your class teacher read it. Because both can happen.
When things have already gone wrong
Someone gets insulted, an embarrassing picture goes round, someone gets bullied out of the group. Then:
- Don't join in. Not even a laughing emoji. Laughing along is joining in.
- Screenshot as evidence, not to forward.
- Say that it's not okay, ideally directly and calmly.
- Get help: parents, a teacher, a trusted teacher or school counsellor. That's not snitching. Snitching is when you want to hurt someone. Getting help is when you want to protect someone.
Agree on three chat rules as a class that everyone signs. Three are enough. Put them up in the classroom.
What annoys you most in the class chat? One word.
Someone posts an embarrassing photo of a classmate in the class chat. What do you do?
More than one answer may be correct.
Laughing along is joining in. Don't forward, speak up, get help: that's how you stop it.