Technology has been an incredibly valuable tool in for education. What used to take entire buildings to store can now be kept online. Knowledge can be shared further and faster than we thought possible. With just a few clicks we can tend files and folders with assignments, instructions, videos - you name it!
Of course, new technology means new ways to screw it up and embarrass yourself. Or if you screw it up badly enough embarrass you and everyone around you.
That secondhand embarrassment is the worst.
One reddit user asked:
Teachers of Reddit, when did student send you the wrong file?
So listen, here's the deal... before we dive into this we need to make something very clear. There is as much porn in these responses as you think there is. This is not the article for your kids to read as a cautionary tale now that almost everyone is doing online schooling.
This is, however, the article that you as parents might want to read so you can be reminded to be extra careful about what flash drives you let the kids borrow, who you're firing that text to (make sure it's not your kid's teacher unless you really really mean for it to be) and what pictures you're adding to your kid's Powerpoint presentations.
It' a technological jungle out there, fam.
Professor Snail
I'm a TA and sometimes accept submissions into my email. Someone emailed me a pdf of their hw, but instead of their hw it was a fanfic about the class professor being a snail.
I memorialized their fanfic by later drawing the professor as a snail and:
putting it on the school reddit
putting it on his door
putting it on my instagram
putting it on the board in our major lounge
I like that student. It was a good fanfic that included a section about him walking on salt.
Teenage Thoughts
Giphy
I have a relatively harmless but funny reverse example. When I was in high school sometimes I would randomly type up my thoughts about various TV shows while I was watching them. I have absolutely no idea why I did that - I would just type up my stream-of-consciousness thoughts in the bottom of some document.
Apparently one time I did this on the bottom of a draft article for my 9th grade journalism elective, which the teacher projected onto the whiteboard and read aloud to the entire class. I have no idea how I accidentally left it at the bottom of the draft, but it was very awkward. I'm pretty sure I'd written comments about an episode of America's Next Top Model in a random paragraph at the end of my draft.
Luckily the submissions themselves were anonymous so no one knew it was mine, but it was awkward. The teacher was like "...hmm, I guess someone's document got mixed up...I don't think that's part of the article...so...comments?" She then left it up for like 10 minutes. I wanted to die.
A Random Flash Drive
I had given students the simple come up with a commercial project. Students had the option of performing in class or recording a short video.
One student brings in a random flash drive with her project. I plug it into my laptop so we can watch as a class and the thing was full of named porn files. She was in 7th grade and it was all uncomfortable. She told me to just click on the folder with her name and we all pretended like we didn't see anything else.
At Least Plagiarize Correctly.
Had a student complain that their assignment wouldn't upload to google classroom. Turned out that he was trying to turn in work that someone else had done and had just shared with him. He couldn't because he didn't "own" the document.
When Bullying Backfires
When I was in high school, I was working with the art teacher to create a book of art and writing by seniors that would get printed and passed out to them at graduation. Usually files would get sent to me, and I would decide if they had enough effort to go into the book, and then I'd email the file to the teacher.
Our emails were just firstnamelastname123@schoolmail, so everyone knew everyone's email. There was an older student that had been bullying me and being absolutely nasty to me, both in person and via email. When he sent his piece, I didn't pay attention and forwarded the entire chain of emails to the art teacher, including the bullying.
He lost his place on the cross country team and instead of a page for him in the art book, there was a page about bullying and how to reach out for help. So. That's what happened when I sent the wrong file.
Elbow Deep In A Cow
Giphy
A student once sent me a video of themselves artificially inseminating a cow.
It was an 'instructional speech' for a class that was not mine.
Screenshot
Actually I am the student and it happened today. Instead of sending my teacher a screenshot of my quiz results I sent her a screenshot of ... a page on how to take a screenshot.
FanFic
I was the student and I will be forever traumatized by my mistake.
I write fanfiction for a relatively niche fandom and wrote a novel-length fic for my OTP. Around the end, I had just shared the link to the Google Doc with my beta reader, and thus, the link was copied to my clipboard. While waiting for her to approve the draft, I went to a class's website to submit an online homework assignment.
Our system allows submissions of Google Docs. I went to the homework assignment, a different Google Doc, and "copied the link" to submit to my professor. And actually pasted the one to this massive, in-depth, 200+ page fanfiction, because the automatic link copying didn't work properly.
The professor emailed me informing me of my mistake, and I had a minor panic attack and apologized profusely before sending her the correct link.
She never mentioned it again, but sometimes I still wonder if she read my fic.
Mum's Funeral
Student, not a teacher, but in my year 9 IST class (Information and Software Technology) we were given an assignment to make a short 8-10 minute movie in premiere. I wasn't going to be in class on the due date because of a funeral, so I emailed the file to my teacher. Turns out I sent the teacher the slideshow movie I'd made for my mum's funeral.
Oopsie.
- sitpinko
Double Whammy
A combination of a student and his mom. And they got me twice.
I taught history and one of my sophomore kids was essentially useless.
His mom did everything for him. Including his assignments. I didn't give homework except for papers, and the final project, which was to make a power point about any year of your choosing.
This kid chose the year he was born. Which is literally the one year I tell them not to do because, being the same age, I didn't want to make the class sit through 15 presentations of the same year. It was obvious his mom had done the PowerPoint because he was genuinely surprised when we got to "August" and it was a close up photo of the mom's vagina giving birth to him.
This was partially on me, because the students were supposed to email me a copy of the slide show so I could review it and I didn't.
I emailed the mother about it and my email included my cell phone number. She called me, completely oblivious that showing the literal moment of her son's birth was not appropriate for history class.
Fast forward to a few days later.
I'm sitting at home and I get a text with a picture from her. She's literally this 40-something Mrs. Weasley looking woman, totally naked. The message said "Can't wait to see you Friday".
I deleted it and willed that from my mind.
POM
We were having presentations on Economic models in our class and this guy came up with a USB. He plugged it in and began opening his file. Just as he opened a folder, there were two files. One was "Economics presentation" and the other one was "POM" (principles of management) but before we could take a good look, the projector crashed and the screen went black. Everyone thought they saw "PORN" instead of POM and the guy looked visually embarrassed. The whole class was laughing and the teacher looked pissed. She thought this was some type of prank.
Anyhow, the IT guy was called and when the screen lit, it turned out to be "POM". The guy kept laughing throughout his presentation.
Turns out, our thinking was corrupt.
Dragonball Z
Giphy
In elementary school, instead of submitting my marble composition notebook with all my grammar lessons, I accidentally handed in my marble composition notebook with all my DragonBall Z doodles. The teacher had no idea what was going on.
Left-Brained
I have so. Many. Dumb. Plagiarism stories. My personal favorite story is when a student submitted an essay from a previous year (through turnitin). When I emailed the student about our zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism and filed a zero in the digital grade book, he immediately emailed me back; "Well, I wrote a new intro so it was only 70% plagiarized. Can't I get a 30%?" Like... our university had a policy you could get a zero for the CLASS for plagiarism and you're asking for a 30% on a paper that really didn't matter? Needless to say, that student DID plagiarize again, and got the department chair involved because I was "Unfairly grading" AND got his MOM involved (the student was a Sophmore so maybe 19?) who told the chair I was "grading based on creativity" and that her son was more "left-brained" and shouldn't be expected to create his own sentences.
Nothing Happened
Had this kid named Andrew (not real name) and he was a little odd. One day at like 8PM he sends 20 or so dick pics to me. The next day he went on like nothing happened
Be More Careful
I have WhatsApp groups with the senior classes I teach. I have had the accidental nudes and things like that. But they delete almost instantly. I delete it from my side as soon as I see it,then I remind them to be careful when sending files and things like that.
- irmai01
Wrong Number
My teacher has been sending me random funny videos via whatsapp for the last few weeks. Think she's got the wrong number....
- Lecer67
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "
" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk to him about it.
Curious to hear about some of the more creepy indiscretions people get away with, Redditor Flytechofficial asked:
"What is perfectly legal, but creepy as hell?"
These things that happen in public restrooms can be considered criminal.
Respecting Splash Zones
"Using the urinal next to me when there were plenty of other choices."
Nightmare For The Pee-Shy
"hanging out in a public bathroom timing how long people pee."
Bad Timing
"I swear to God. I did a lot of work in hospitals for a while, big f'king hospitals with tons of bathrooms all over the place. For some God damned reason, regardless of what time or bathroom I selected to take a sh*t in not 30 seconds after I sat down a janitor would knock on the door to clean the bathroom. It's not as if it was one janitor, just some random janitor would inevitably need to clean whatever bathroom I was in as soon as I got comfy. It's like I was being stalked by the janitors."
"So now I'm trying to take a sh*t knowing full well there's somebody out there actively timing how long it takes."
Looky-Loo
"I was drunk in a casino and went to use the washroom. The floors in there were a polished marble or something. Sitting on the toilet, pants down, my stall neighbour made eye contact with me on the reflective floor tile."
The following examples involving minors have no legal repercussions.
Outside Watchers
"Technically, you can stand on the sidewalk and stare into someone's house through a window. It's not illegal as long as you stay off of their property, but it's really freaking creepy."
Keeping Tabs On Someone's Age
"A national newspaper having a countdown for when a child actress becomes 'legal' for sex."
"Answers to questions that will surely come. ....Yes. The Sun (UK). Emma Watson."
– pdirth
The Young Subjects
"When I was a child, we had a creepy horrible neighbor that would harass my family constantly. One of the things he did was stand at the corner of his yard and videotape me playing in a pool with my friends (we were around 8). My parents called the police but were told that it's legal if he's on his property."
These perfectly harmless examples can give you goosebumps.
Macabre
"Hanging your doll collection from the trees in your yard using string made from human hair."
People's Taste
"I believe the act of cannibalism itself is legal so long as you didn't murder anyone to do it. If your homie gives you his arm to gnaw on, it's fair game."
I recently treated myself by going to a movie theater after what seemed like a long hiatus for much of the year.
Streaming blockbuster movies from home, while convenient, has never made as much of an impact when compared to the moviegoing experience.
But after my recent trip to our local AMC, I'm beginning to think watching entertainment from the comfort of my quiet home is a much better option.
I forgot that a good majority of audience members are disrespectful and pretty much ignore all the rules—including no texting or talking during the movie.
The normal volume conversations and the number of lit screens from people's smartphone's in my peripheral vision throughout the movie were huge distractions.
Maybe as I'm getting older, my patience has worn thin, or I happened to have a particularly unpleasant experience. But seriously, how can anyone enjoy going to the movies when people are constantly updating their status inside a darkened auditorium?
It should illegal. Rant over.
I feel like if there is nothing after life, it just invalidates life. But maybe I'm just dramatic. I hope there is peace. Thoughts?
black and white two funerals GIFTogether...
"When we die, the whole world as seen by us, dies together with us."
"Yes it does. As does the entire universe. Only when we are alive can we experience the passage of time. The instant we die the entire universe will experience heat death and cease to be. It my take a million eons but since we can no longer experience time it will be relatively instantaneous."
- OkEbb749
Thanks Alan
"It's one of the great wonders of life: What will it be like to go to sleep and never wake up? And if you think long enough about that, something will happen to you. You will find out, among other things, that it will pose the next question to you: What was it like to wake up after never having gone to sleep? That was when you were born. You see, you can't have an experience of nothing. Nature abhors a vacuum. ~Alan Watts"
So Romantic...
"When I was much younger, I had a dream where I died. Not a typical dream, not a romanticized dream. It was a dream where I was an archer in a medieval battle. About 5 minutes into the battle, chaos was all around me, and I watched an opposing archer aim and loose an arrow straight into my left eye."
"I remember the sensation of impact, ringing in my ears, and falling to the ground. I remember the warmth of the blood on my face. The feeling of life leaving my body, and the sense of worry evaporating into warmth and peace as the world left behind me."
"I remember waking up shortly after thinking that the feeling and reality of that experience was so vivid and so detailed that it must have been an experience from a previous incarnation hundreds of years ago. From that moment on, I've never feared the actual process of death. I feel like I've experienced it many times before."
Erase
Computer Reaction GIFGiphy"I think one of your best friends delete's your browsing history."
"Take the hard drive out of my computer at home… Put it in the bath… And make sure it's completely wiped. -Tensai Slime"
If you love me... rule number one... HIDE THE EVIDENCE!!! Let that be heard far and wide. And dreams, always so intertwined aren't they?
Before & After
Happy Baby GIFGiphy"Exactly the same as before you were born."
- whumoon
"I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. -Mark Twain"
Moving On...
"We clean the bed and assign it to another patient."
"The REAL reason why nurses are so dark. 90 year old man in hospice got hit by a car on his way to get fitted for his funeral tuxedo, and didn't have a DNR. Kept him alive for four hours, and now it's time to document everything that was done to save his life because there will inevitably be a lawsuit from a family member who has had four years to say goodbye but somehow didn't get to."
Again...
"Play again?
Yes
[No]
I don't know what they mean or how to utilize them. I'm a Buddhist (but a gamer first and foremost) so it's cool you guys made those connections This totally makes up for r/movies continuously banning me."
Oblivion...
"I've answered this one before but here it is again. Either two things happen after you die: you either go somewhere or it's oblivion. If it is oblivion, then we're just going back to the same place before we were born and there's nothing wrong with that. We were there for billions or trillions of years, possibly infinity."
"You lose that concept of time since your brain doesn't work anymore so you don't even know it's over. It's not nothing because nothing would be something and that means that you are aware, which you can not be if you're dead. If we do go somewhere, then that's something no one understands because no one has ever come back to tell us."
"Those stories of people coming back after they "died" and "saw stuff" weren't really dead. Their hearts stopped but their brains were still working. If the Universe continues to recycle itself infinitely, then there's a chance we will be reborn or continuously reborn but have no memory of our previous selves."
- jamoh20
On Holiday
"When I was a kid I drowned while on holiday with my family, a giant fat man jumped in the pool on top of me and no one noticed till I was on the bottom of the pool. I remember the feeling of my lungs being on fire, then shivering then as everything was going dark a strange sense of peace and I was ok with it, No panic or terror then it went black."
"I was resuscitated at the side of the pool a few minutes later. I remember nothing from the black to being "alive" again. I was around 7 when it happened and since then I've been strangely at peace with the fact that one day I will die and slip into the dark void of nothingness. Hope that helps."
Popcorn?
500 days of summer cinema GIFGiphy"You wake up in a chair in a cinema and learn that the other are past lives of you and you're about to watch your next life very soon on the big screen."
The truth is none of us know the truth. We live everyday with the afterlife being a gamble. And that seems like it's going to have to be enough.
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