Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- "Kindness Walls" promote positivity in 375 Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming schools.
- Weber State University sponsors the program to encourage uplifting social media habits.
- Madeleine Homer highlights its impact on students' digital communication and social media use.
OGDEN — A growing program is encouraging positivity in social media posts by helping students share compliments with their peers. They're called "Kindness Walls."
"Kindness Walls" are sponsored through Weber State University to now 375 schools across Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. The hope is that by spreading positive messages in their school communities, students can better learn how to share those vibes online.
In the world of social media, it's not hard to find negativity. It may seem at times like it's what drives the platforms.
Madeleine Homer, a social worker at Sandy's Sprucewood Elementary in Canyons School District, said she learned just this past fall about Kindness Walls.
"What I think is really cool about it is that it gives kids a really positive view of how they could maybe potentially use social media in the future," she said.
It's as simple as two screens in the cafeteria, primarily for fourth and fifth graders.
"Our fifth graders especially, this is, kind of, the year where they start getting into social media and getting into texting and digital communication," Homer said.
Using their laptops, students can get into their school at youuplift.com, and share those uplifting thoughts, once approved.
"The kids, when they see their name pop up during lunch, there's like, cheers and screams, and the kids get excited for each other," Homer said.
Those are the kind of vibes that can be contagious.
"All the messages that you'll see are coming straight from the kids, and they are driven right towards another student," Homer said.
The type of praise that we could use a whole lot of in the worldwide community. If kids can get into the habit of uplifting here, maybe they can teach others how to do it out there.
"I think it's a really cool thing that the kids have on their minds even when they're not in the building," Homer said.
"Kindness Walls" are made possible through a state grant, so they are free to all k-12 public schools. Schools can get information through youuplift.com.
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