ABOUT COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS: Community Connections is a lesson collection designed for adult learners and community colleges, with the goal of inspiring student civic action. This might be respectful debate or conversation about a local issue, planning a community event, or a creative project that helps connect local, national and global issues.
To use this lesson: First, watch the video and answer the questions below as a warm up. Next, choose one or more of the activities under "Take Action" that best fits your classroom. Or, use the segment above to inspire your own original classroom activities — the spirit of these lessons is to connect current events to actions that make your community a better place for everyone!
SUMMARY
Large social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok have billions of users across the globe. The decisions they make about privacy, content moderation and misinformation can impact people’s social lives and mental health. A different kind of social network, one grown locally, might hold lessons for another way forward. Judy Woodruff reports for her series, America at a Crossroads.
View the transcript of the story.
WARM-UP QUESTIONS
- What is Front Porch Forum?
- Why did Michael Wood-Lewis start Front Porch Forum?
- What book inspired Wood-Lewis to "create something that helps neighbors build community through mundane interactions?"
- How is Front Porch Forum different from other social networks?
- Where is Front Porch Forum available to users?
FOCUS QUESTIONS
- Why do you think that Michael Wood-Lewis says that social media platforms that allow everyone to say anything they want are being highly irresponsible?
- Why do you think Wood-Lewis says he has no plans to expand Front Porch Forum, despite its popularity?
Media literacy: Why do you think the producers of this story chose to interview Paul Lyons and Maggie Riley about their experience meeting through Front Porch Forum?
TAKE ACTION
Do you have a sense of how much social media you engage with every day? Use this activity to track your media diet. How much of it is social media?
How could you use the example of this video to host an event in your own community? Use this activity to plan something out.
Watch the short video below to hear from two teens who reflect on how social media nearly ruined their friendship.
- Why do you think social media can be so addictive?
- Have you experienced anything similar to the two teens from the video concerning social media and friendships? Looking back, what did you learn from the experience?
Check out this lesson plan on how to safely set up social media accounts.
This project was funded under the 2024 Leonore Annenberg Civic Mission of the Nation Initiative, sponsored by the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics. LAIC is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
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