Charles Dickens wrote a lengthy but meaningful first line to his novel, “A Tale of Two Cities”:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

He wrote all of that almost 150 years before the internet or social media, but doesn’t it certainly seem to apply to our modern communications?

“… The age of wisdom …” with almost unlimited knowledge just a search away.

“… The age of foolishness …” as evidenced by myriad news stories, even in our own newspaper. Such as Friday’s fight at Colquitt County High School, described on today’s front page.

A school resource officer described it as students trash-talking on social media, building each other up to a confrontation. Then when they met at school, BOOM!

The melee, which led to the arrests of nine people between the ages of 15 and 17, was videoed on another student’s cell phone or tablet and was soon posted to Facebook and YouTube.

Facebook has apparently taken the video down since then, but as of Tuesday afternoon it was still available on YouTube, where there’s a channel devoted to fights at our high school. No, we are not making that up. It claims 18 videos of fights at CCHS going back two years, and it has 327 followers.

That’s enough to make one believe it really is “the season of Darkness.”

The Observer posted two stories about Friday’s fight to our website and linked them to our own Facebook page. Comments came quickly.

While some commenters questioned school leadership and others pointed the finger at parents who aren’t involved with their children, many focused on the inability of children to escape from social media.

“When we went to school,” Sandy Knighton wrote, “kids had some disagreements and you probably didn’t hear about it again until the next day. Now days the kids thrive in mess at school and when they get home they have Snapchat, Facebook, etc., to keep the fire going. It escalates at home and then it’s brought to the school grounds. …”

Some called for banning cell phones on school property. They said the school provides computers and wifi for students to do their work with, so they don’t need electronics brought from home. While such a ban might be beneficial in some ways, it won’t address the social media drama because that’s taking place after students leave the school.

Others encouraged a zero tolerance policy for bullying. Certainly the school system must work to address bullying, but we aren’t clear what such a policy would look like or how much authority the school would have to police such activity after-hours.

In the end, the students must learn to make better choices — including the choice to walk away from social media for a while, which unfortunately has proven difficult for people far older and wiser than the students charged on Friday. In the meantime, parents, school officials, the students’ friends, and the businessmen and technicians who run social media platforms can all have a role in minimizing incidents like Friday’s fight.

If they all accept that challenge, we may not go “direct to Heaven,” but our community will get better. If they don’t accept the challenge, though, we may all go “direct the other way.”