Growing Up Online

After watching this video I changed my thinking a little about Facebook and MySpace and the privacy that kids believe they should have especially from their parents when using these sites. This movie is a great example of how huge of an impact technology has on the lives of young learners. There were so many example of how students felt safe and accepted online and how they allowed information about themselves and pictures of themselves to be given out. I personally believe that this is a negative impact. All through the beginning of this semester we have been learning about how awesome technology is and how the tools associated with it will help our students so much, however though it does do a lot of good some bad does come of it. If parents are not able to observe their child's habits online or teach them what is right and wrong with posting information then the safety of the child really comes into play. We heard a horrible story of the boy who took his own life because of bullying. Though websites are cool they create a new world for people to interact in and young people may need guidance to make good decisions in this new world. One of my favorite parts of the movie was when they compared Facebook and Myspace to Rock and Roll. They say that kids will always find a generation gap. I believe in this but it is then up to the parents to make sure their child is making safe decisions. I use Facebook. It's hard to find a college student who doesn't. However, I am not afraid to show my parents, family, or even priest everything on my account. Technology has a huge role on young learners. It is up to the adults to guide the young learners into making good safe decisions.

As a future teacher I plan on trying to teach my students how to be safe online. That what they post can sometimes be accessed by a number of people, people that they may not even know. I am being taught right now about all the awesome things that technology has for us. There are so many tools that make our lives easier and help us learn. I want to not only use and teach these tools with my students but I want them to know the dangers of using the tools the wrong way.