My son Conner is learning first hand what a roller coaster ride having something go viral on the internet can be. He is in the video production class at school, which seems to be the modern day equivalent of high school journalism. Griffin News is a bi-weekly news show that the students write, produce and air for the student body. I’ll be honest… As a parent with a writing background and a working knowledge of the attention span of the average teenager, some of the segments have been a tad, um, challenging to sit through without offering up unsolicited advice.
Fortunately, Conner has been pressing his classmates to bring out the funny… and it’s paid off in ways none of the kids could have expected. Their segment “Mean Teacher Tweets” based on Jimmy Kimmel’s hilarious version of “Mean Celebrity Tweets” has gone viral.
One of Conner’s classmates separated the Teacher Tweets from the rest of the Griffin News segment it was in, and posted it on his personal YouTube channel. (Note: as Momma, I have to tell you that I think Conner’s parody of Justin Long in Dodgeball at about the 3:43 mark is pretty funny.)
This thing has taken off. This morning the kids were on the front page of the paper and written up in this article. 
Good Morning America, Time.com, The Huffington Post and Buzzfeed have all picked up the story, and the moral behind the video, which is to be careful what you say about others since words can be so hurtful. The kids are also very excited because the school has been contacted by both the Jimmy Kimmel and the Ellen shows.
UPDATED: Conner and his classmates made the local news. (This video comes with a built in ad and autoplay. Sorry about that!)
Dampening Conner’s spirit a little, is reading some of the comments that people on various sites have made about the video and the teachers. (Or the crazy sick-o’s who decided to look up teacher email addresses and send inappropriate photos to those teachers…) The comment sections on internet sites are a virtual lion’s den for those who haven’t yet experienced the nastiness of internet trolls… those people who derive great pleasure from being giant a-holes and stirring up trouble to see who they can get to take their bait. (Never feed a troll, kids. Just walk away.)
You will rarely know what will end up being the milestone moments of your life at the time that they’re happening. Enjoy the ride, Conner, enjoy the ride. I am proud of you!
What the heck does the hashtags mean?
That video is awesome!! That is so much fun that it’s going viral – congrats to Conner!! 🙂
That video is great and I hope that people and the kids actually get the point of it- as too many feel so free behind their computer to say what they want– which they are finding out about the mean troll comments too. I had a video go viral, one of Ryder when he was a baby, has over a million hits and yea, it is amazing what horrific things will say, even with just a video of a baby.
That’s terrible that trolls found bad things to say about a sweet baby! What’s wrong with people?!
The internet trolls are the worst. Dealt with that a lot with Eva. The protector in me when crazy, trying to defend, set straight etc. whatever was being said. Finally had to just say enough is enough and not read comments anymore.
What a proud Momma moment for you. Hope you kept a few copies of that paper to show him in 20 years 🙂
I haven’t read the comments about Eva in years. They get me all upset and that’s the whole purpose for these trolls and crappy people. When it’s directed at someone you know and love, it’s even worse. I learned not to even look at them.
Oh me either. I read stuff when she first came back to AMC, but had to stop after awhile. It got me so upset that these people made assumptions and comments etc when they had no idea the kind of person she is. One of the most kind and generous people I know and love. It took a long while to stop reading what was written and not try to reply back. But felt so much better once I did. I try not to look at message boards anymore. Made the mistake of doing it when the news about her and Joe was out but stopped quickly before I got too upset. I just don’t get what people get out of making comments about others, putting people down etc. Guess I was just raised the right way and it’s why it bothers me so much.
Go Griffins! My husband and I met at Los Al in 1972 and have been happily married since 1976. Congratulations on a great message those students are sending, so glad so many people are seeing it.