NEW-AGE TEACHERS' DILEMMA: TO BE OR NOT TO BE FRIENDS WITH STUDENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA...

In the age of social media, teacher-student relationship is no longer restricted to just class-rooms. Yes, we are talking about the all-access-giving social media. However, over the years there has been a big debate on the relevance of these virtual friendships to even safety factors involved with the blurring of the boundaries between the personal and professional. The debate heightened, especially in a US state when an education agency revealed that forty-four percent of the investigated cases of alleged misconduct start with text messages or through social media.
So the pressing dilemma for teachers in the era of technology is - do we befriend students on social media? There is no easy answer to this, especially for college teachers - those who teach adult students. While some feel that social media connects and brings teachers and students closer, most teachers say that it becomes difficult to draw the line, with students often becoming too pally or sending inappropriate messages. A few teachers talk about their experience.
They stalk you on Face Book: Vamsi Krishna, a mathematics lecturer who lives in Khairatabad, says, "Most of my students have social media accounts, and I prefer not to accept their friend requests. It feels a bit creepy when they look at my pictures, and then later in class, instead of asking doubts about mathematics they ask personals questions about those personal pictures. Social media is a complicated space altogether. It will not serve the purpose of teacher-student relationship when my posts will not help them score marks which is my main responsibility".
Palak (name changed on request), another teacher, says, "Initially, I would accept friend requests from students of my classes. But they had friends from other departments, who started sending me friend requests. That became awkward for me. Now, I have stopped accepting friend requests from students and have even unfriended some of them".
Social Media Helps Us Connect With Students Who Are Otherwise Reclusive In Class: Rachit Rastogi, a faculty member at a university, says, "I don't have a problem in adding students to my FB friend list as long as they don't get too intruding. Social media helps us connect with students who are not very outspoken in class. As a young teacher, I can understand young teacher, I can understand their mind-set. At times, they get a bit over-friendly with their comments, but most of the times, the platform helps us in sharing study-related content. We also share our thoughts on other issues related to life". 
Comments From Students On Personal Pictures: Kapil (name changed), a faculty member in a technical college, says he realised that there is a side effect of posting personal pictures - getting cheesy comments from the students. He says, "I have a lot of students who are friends with me on Face Book. But every time I post a picture with my wife or if she posts a picture and tags me, there are several students who comment on it. Though most of the comments are okay, some of them are really awkward and they get too personal. I have now decided not to accept any friend request from students".
A Student Who Got Too Friendly On Face Book: Shivani, a faculty member at a college, says, "I do accept friend requests from students, as there are times when they need your help and are able to connect better with you through social media. But a few days ago, there was a student who started messaging me at odd hours and even shared all my posts and pictures on his timeline. When I confronted him, he started making excuses. I unfriended him after that and now, I don't think I will be accepting friedn requests from students anymore".
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