It's Complicated
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Social media, or the internet, sometimes seems like a bad word. Thinking back to when I was in school, we would get yelled at and given a detention if we were doing anything with tech other than using it for Microsoft Word. Even at school as a teacher, we put down the use of phones and caution kids about the horrors social media can cause. However, tech and social media can be used to educate students and further their learning. It should be used as a means for engagement and a way to prepare them for the jobs of the future. Tech is here to stay, along with social media, so we need to be prepared for its use more often at school.
A Microsoft researcher, named danah boyd, traveled to interview kids about social media in education. She interviewed students from all backgrounds and to hear what they had to say. She created a presentation, which I found quite interesting and commented on below.
Surprising Finds
One statistic I found interesting was that most kids do not use their phones as phones. They are watching videos, on social media, or even reading articles. I found this surprising because this is a completely different purpose for phone usage than when I was in middle school. When I was in middle school, rarely anyone had a smart phone. We used our phones to text one another or call. It was unheard of to see that someone was accessing the internet on their phone.
I also found it interesting that even parents in the stands at games, who are there to watch their kids, are also on their phones more often. This upset me a little bit at first because it seems as if they aren't paying attention to their child. Their child practices for games and puts their all into their own success, while parents seem like they would rather be somewhere else. However, when I thought about it more, they could be supporting their child by posting and messaging about their plays with those who cannot be there to watch. I think this goes to show that we have preconceived ideas about tech and social media use, which might not be true at all.
Confirmations
One finding from the article that I can relate to is that kids are using social media to connect outside of school. They are creating their own network online. It is a way for kids to get together when they cannot in person. This is something I participate in with people from high school and college. Through Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat I am able to talk with people I don't see often to share new ideas, reminisce, or to catch up. I also remember doing this in middle school when Instant Messaging was popular. I remember running home from the bus to sit on my parents' computer and talk with my friends.
Another confirmation is that the internet and tech is an every day necessity. Some examples of this are that more and more companies are turning towards selling and marketing online, classes are being given online instead of in person, and people are able to access new or more information than ever because of the internet. The internet is something that is not going away. It is becoming more and more intertwined into everything we do.
Takeaways
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There are a few ideas from dana boyd's presentation that I am going to take to heart and possibly share with colleagues. I liked what she said about the internet mirroring the problems and successes happening in the world. I think it is important to realize that the internet is just another way of accessing information so that we are not blind to what we cannot see firsthand. We should not focus our frustrations on internet access itself, but instead the bad that is actually going on in the world.
Another takeaway is that the internet and social media is just a modernized way for kids to be social. Kids used to meet up for hours a day or talk on landlines. The overall wants of kids haven't changed. Just because we didn't grow up in this new age of technology, doesn't mean we had it any better or worse than the kids today have it; our means for communication and access to information were just different. We need to keep this in mind when we are teaching kids and use it as an asset.
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