As I watched the two videos, "Growing Up Online" and "Digital Nation," I began to think that maybe the statistics that were given in chapter one may have been underestimating the dependency that our youth has on the internet. For example, in the first video, the fact that a typical Friday night party would be to gather in someone's basement and play online games is rather unusual. It was not like this back in the day to say the very least. Furthermore, when teenagers feel that they have an entirely different personality on the internet can also be troublesome. I don't think they realize the amount of content can be seen by hundreds of thousands of people.
The story that stuck out to me the most from the first video is about Ryan. He committed suicide after not only being bullied at school, but also at the comfort of his own home- cyber-bullying. It wasn't until after his passing that his father decided to look through his laptop to look for answers as to why he committed that act. What was most disturbing is that the father found that a website and chats with another young boy about how to commit suicide. This struck me because not only is that sick but that really deteriorates the most basic purpose of having access to the internet, which is to seek knowledge.
Being an advocate for self-expression and online socializing during my teenage years, this movie was certainly an eye opener to the "dark side" of internet usage. I will most certainly continue my thoughts about the two videos in my reflection.
Two questions from ch 2:
1- It seems like the student-centered approach makes more sense to use? However, will that be giving too much freedom to the student when it comes to technology use?
2- How can internet literacy promote engagement and collaboration as demonstrated later in the chapter?
Michelle- I was also pretty surprised that the father waited til it was too late to search his son's laptop. When I was a teenager, my parents had the computer in a very public room in the house and we were not allowed to have our own email address until we were well into high school. Yes I had a myspace when that was popular, which was largely unregulated, but now, I'm 27 years old, have a child and I'm about to get married and I STILL tell people not to post inappropriate things on my Facebook wall, afraid that my mom will see them. I feel bad for Ryan that he had to take his life becuase he had no other options.
ReplyDeleteI too was restricted with the use of the internet, although I admit, I have found my loopholes. It is sad how the use of technology can diminish the communication from the family.
ReplyDeleteMy mom as well as most of my extended family (whom live overseas) use facebook as a convenient way to keep in touch. Even up to this day, I still make sure that inappropriateness doesn't take place on my page.
I feel bad for Ryan also but I do hope that many will learn from that terrible experience.