Hate to see anyone's sincerely presented thoughts dismissed so thoroughly, Teejay. I'm guessing there might be more than a few years difference in age between you and your responders--and maybe a few decades between you and me! But all the more reason to have a conversation.
I work with boarding students at a prep school which is rigorously academic with numerous sports engaged at a high level. The school experience of my students would be similar (though not comparable in degree) to the Lady Vols, in-season and out, with the exception of travel time.
We could probably agree that it would not be good for student-athletes to be mentally or actually engaging social media during periods of time set aside for class study, academic projects, weight room/training/individual skills practice, film study, or team practice. In-season, that leaves very little time each day/night.
Socializing, developing people-skills, growing in personal confidence, discovering and practicing the norms of effective social interaction--these are actually more necessary for success in real life than academics. Studies contend that social media is not just a poor substitute for socialization, it actually promotes atrophy of necessary interpersonal skills.
I know I feel a daily obligation to the parents who've sent their students to our school (from across the country and around the world) to afford their kids real, face-to-face, opportunites for social growth and confidence.
How much more important for young people inhabiting the high profile spotlight that comes with wearing the Lady Vols uniform?
Even though social media activity has become a norm for this generation, that doesn't mean it isn't harmful, damaging, or limiting. I'm a baby-boomer who came of age in the notorious '60s. The western world has yet to recover from the damage done by the "norms" we embraced and promoted. Individual lives are still being destroyed when the "norms" we espoused are accepted without examination or critique.
As for the opportunities social media presents for effective branding--both individual and for the university--I think you'd agree that's a responsibility (especially considering the forever nature of the cyber record) an individual wouldn't want to take lightly, addressing only in their rare, spare moments. Entities with many fewer followers and much less financial impact than the "Lady Vols" typically task a full-time employee to protect and promote their brand in cyberspace. How much time in-season would our student-athletes have to give thought to what they publish socially?
So, yeah, I'm another old timer who disagrees with your premise. But hopefully you feel your ideas have been respected and that you've been treated with the same dignity as had we been engaged in face-to-face conversation.
That, after all, is the challenge of sending thoughts rendered in typed, phonetic symbols across cyberspace--with no control over how they will be translated or interpreted--in a public forum. :hi:
