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Shooting Your Kid’s Laptop Is No Solution to Media Literacy

February 16, 2012 By 1 Comment
Dad Shoots Laptop over Daughter's Facebook Post

The North Carolina dad who shot his daughter's laptop in a YouTube video shows the critical need to teach media literacy to our kids.  You may see the dad as a hero or an idiot, the daughter as a victim or an entitled brat, but she is also ignorant of the implications of socially-networked publishing.  The dad may get villainized by the local PTA or visited by social services, but the real downside is for the daughter and millions like her who don't understand that a careless post could cost them a host of potential choices, such as career or school opportunities. In case you missed the story:  A dad got really angry after reading a post on his daughter's Facebook page. (See ABC.news' "Fed-Up North Carolina Father Shoots Daughter's Laptop")  In a post she believed was blocked to her parents, the daughter expressed, rather colorfully and disrespectfully in that special way that teens have, discontent with the burdens she felt she carried at home.  (The Freudians among us, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Education, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , ,

Should Teachers and Students Be Facebook Friends?

June 24, 2011 By 1 Comment
Prohibiting teachers from Facebook is like putting your head in the sand

Ask most students if they are Facebook friends with their teachers and they will tell you, “it depends on the teacher.”  That alone should tell us that a blanket policy prohibiting teachers from interacting on social networks with students is the functional equivalent of burying your head in the sand. As social networks become a normal means of connection, it’s time to step back and examine the underlying purposes that the social networking tools facilitate.   Facebook currently has everyone’s attention but it’s not because the relationships on it are unique relative to other types of social media.  It’s because it is so in-your-face.  Facebook, much to Mark Zuckerberg’s delight I’m sure, has become synonymous with social media, like Kleenex is for tissues.  In the past week alone, I’ve been asked if Facebook means we have to give up our privacy, be friends with people we don’t want to be friends with, and whether or not it’s okay to connect with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Psychology, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , ,

Perpetuating the Fear of Technology

April 3, 2011 By 3 Comments

Shame on LA Times columnist Sandy Banks for perpetuating ignorance and the fear of technology in her column “The stage is too big for kids” . If you want to see a parent who needs to learn more about technology, read this column. It exemplifies the response of people who aren't willing to learn what it's like to be a kid living with technology today. Let me say at the outset, I have a problem with people who quote research without at least telling me what research they are quoting so I can look it up and read it myself. But that's just a pet peeve of mine. The main point is that Banks' column is contributing to what communication scholar George Gerbner calls the "Mean World" syndrome, where the negative or violent content content of mass media makes people believe that the world is more dangerous than it actually is. In the first paragraph, Banks mentions cyberbullying, online perverts and “Facebook depression” as things “stalking our kids.” Kind of front-loaded … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Psychology, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , , ,

Online Safety: Educate not Legislate

May 27, 2010 By 3 Comments
2010-05-25-Future-Social-Media-Logos

Previously published in Psychology Today "Positively Media." Facebook’s recent privacy control changes have triggered a big response of concern, indignation, and pages of analysis. One thing you have to love about social media, when people are ticked off, you find out pretty fast. Facebook is doing some rhetorical back-pedaling but when people are angry, they demand solutions—often in haste and not often rationally. This has added fuel to the political fire to regulate social networking sites like Facebook. It’s time to take a deep breath and realize that we need a longer view to achieve a solution that is both effective and sustainable. That solution is education, not legislation. We need to redefine media literacy to include understanding how media technologies work and how they are used, not focus on content. We need to elevate media literacy to media citizenship. Facebook violated a social contract with its users. People are rightfully frustrated … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture & Society, Education, Social Media & Networks Tagged With: , , ,
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