In one
of the introductory paragraphs of her course on Digital Citizenship in a Global
Community, Professor Janes poses this situation:
“… it would be unusual in the
early 90s to take a picture of your supper plate and share it with your friends
because taking pictures meant going to the photo lab and getting them developed
before you could share. With social media and digital cameras you can now have
a couple hundred likes on your main course before you eat your desert.
But should you?” (Janes, 2016)
Certainly, we dare not go through life assuming that we “should
do” everything we “can do”! But what exactly we should and should not do is
very much a personal decision. Barring illegal behaviour, there is little to
restrict our online activity in the 21st century, and the freedom to
participate in online activities, including social media, is only likely to
increase with time. The question of what we “should do” is especially apt when
discussing teen participation in social media.
Danah Boyd, in her book it’s complicated: the social lives of networked teens, begins by
describing the interactions of teens at a football game, where cell phones were
ubiquitous, but seemed to be used mainly as a connection tool for friends to
meet in person. (Boyd, 2014) In other words, the actual socializing of
teenagers was pretty much the same as it had been a generation or two earlier …
it just happened to be facilitated by the use of personal digital devices. This
is a pretty benign view of digital devices and their use by teenagers.
A clearly opposite view is held by Mark Bauerlein, and is
argued at length in his book, The dumbest
generation: How the digital age stupefies young Americans and jeopardizes our
future. Bauerlein argues that social media among teen has robbed them if
family life and the guidance that they would otherwise have received from the
adults in their lives. The result, in Bauerlein’s opinion, has been disastrous
and is only likely to get worse. (Bauerlein, 2008)
Of course, both arguments are much more nuanced than
these few sentences could possibly describe (and truly both deserve much more
attention and some careful reading), but the point is that while some view the
internet as basically harmless and even beneficial, others view it much more
skeptically. What neither seem to emphasize is the element of personal choice
that is inherent in modern digital presence. The internet is neither inherently
good nor inherently evil; it just enables more freedom of ‘movement’ and
expression than ever before and with the freedom a responsibility to make
personal choices about degree and form of participation. Bauerlein describes
teens being absorbed in social media almost 24/7, to the exclusion of other
activities including time with family. While social media might be harmless in
itself, this level of involvement is clearly destructive. It’s a question of
degree! Even the harmless socializing that Boyd describes can be damaging if it
is pursued relentlessly.
So … if personal choice is one of the key characteristics
of the internet in the 21st century, then personal choice must also
be a key governing factor. The only thing holding any of us back from reckless
online participation is our own sense of personal restraint. For this reason,
education about effective, respectful use of the internet and social media
cannot be overstated as teenagers and even young children take an increasingly
participatory role online. Families, schools, and other public education
organizations must step up in their deliberate programs for education of
digital youth.
On the surface this may seem obvious, but too often our
actions do not match what we know to be true. Recognizing the need for
education is only a beginning! Now for the hard part … education how, and about
what aspects of digital usage? … and how do we begin?
Resources
Bauerlein, M. (2008). The
dumbest generation: How the digital age stupefies young Americans and jeopardizes our future (or,
don't trust anyone under 30). New York, NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin.
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