Masking The Situation!

We discussed the different ways that you can tell how someone is feeling.

In pairs, children then played a charades-style game - with one pupil acting sad/disappointed/frustrated/joyful…and the other guessing how they are feeling.

Discussed:

• What different types of feelings or emotions can a person have?

• How can you tell what a person may be feeling?

We then discussed what is meant by the term 'social media': Facebook, Twitter, Snap Chat, Instagram and talked about their purpose:

• Keeping in touch with friends

• Sharing where you are and what you have been doing

• Showing what is happening in your life

• Communicating

• Sharing pictures

We discussed whether you can tell how happy someone is by their social media profiles and how it can make you feel if you see lots of people sharing these images and posts.

We agreed that sometimes seeing everyone doing amazing things can make you feel like you are not as happy or not doing as much. We then discussed:

1. Trying to be inspired by these images and posts and use them as motivation to try something new or do more to make themselves happier rather than worry about comparing themselves to others.

2. The lives shown on social media often do not give a full or accurate picture of the person's actual experiences. People are unlikely to share pictures of themselves being sad and lonely or of a project that has gone wrong. People often want to show themselves in the best possible light and social media gives a platform to do this.

We created masks for a made-up character who presents a very positive image on social media.

Children got into role of their characters and planned what they might say, what they might be thinking. They then presented to the group by saying only good things about their life when holding the mask up, sharing great things they have made or done. We then moved the mask away and shared anything the character might be worried, upset or angry about. We talked about why people present this image on social media and how it makes them and us feel.