What Surprised Me
I grew
up in a time when Facebook and social media was just emerging. As long as my homework
and chores were done, my parents didn’t limit screen time. Looking back on it
now, I wonder if it’s because I am considered a “digital native” and my parents
“digital immigrants”. (Prensky) If they knew more back then about social media,
would they have allowed such free reign or would they have placed a limitation
in place and also require me to “friend” them so they could monitor my posts?
Reviewing
the adolescent interview, I was interested to see that parents now have to
actively limit screen time or determine the appropriate age that children are
mature enough to be able to use social media. I was also surprised that when I
asked the student about using social media in the classroom, she was clear that
it is used more for building friendships and it almost seemed as if she didn’t want
it to cross into the realm of education.
The Take Away Points
The reading that inspired
most of my questions was the Living and Learning with New Media article. I was
also inspired by the NPR Interview as well. One item that really stood out was
the idea of how adolescents respond to each other through media. The MacArthur
Foundation article states:
“Most youth use online networks to extend the
friendships that they navigate in the familiar contexts of school, religious
organizations, sports, and other local activities. They can be “always on”, in
constant contact with their friends via texting, instant messaging, mobile
phones, and Internet connections.” (Ito,
pg. 5)
This seems to contradict the opinion
expressed in the NPR interview that texting and internet communication actually
eliminates the idea of “being on” because it allows the message recipient time
to construct a response at any time they feel comfortable doing so. When I
asked the young girl about if she talked to her friends on the phone she responded
with that she usually texts friends. It seems that there is less pressure using
written types of communication instead of face-to-face or on the phone. For instance,
“when Turkle asked teens and adults why they preferred text messaging over
face-to-face conversation, they responded that when you’re face-to-face, you
can’t control what you are going to say, and you don’t know how long it’s going
to take or where it could go. (NPR)
Friendships definitely seemed to be
the most important aspect of adolescent technology usage. On more than one
occasion my interviewee mentioned that she and her friends shared items on social
media quite frequently. She even clarified that since one friend could not have
Facebook she would keep this friend in the loop by letting her look on too. In
this day and age, digital presence is an important part of developing a social circle.
With adolescents, there may be a participation gap since parents may limit or
restrict the use of social media sites.
Technology for
Learning
There is also a lot of
discussion around using social media for educational purposes. However, will
that really be the most effective option? It seemed to be clear that the
interviewee was happy using tools already in her classroom like the smart
board, iPads, and computers. When given the option of using a social platform
in class, she seemed to be against it. Just because students like social media
does not mean they need to learn that way. What if students prefer social media
to be just that, social? That’s not to say that other interactive digital
platforms can’t be used. It’s more about keeping your digital social presence
separate from your digital learning sphere. This way my interpretation of the
answer I received anyway. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Citation
Ito,
M., Horst, H., Bittanti, M., Boyd, D., Herr-Stephenson, B., Lang, P.G., Pascoe,
C.J., & Robinson, L. (2009). Living and Learning with New Media:
Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project.Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Retreived from http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/files/report/digitalyouth-WhitePaper.pdf
S.
Bennett & K. Maton, (2010). Beyond the ‘digital natives’ debate: Towards a more nuanced
understanding of students’ technology experiences Journal of Computer Assisted
Learning (2010), 26, 321–331 Retreived from http://www.karlmaton.com/pdf/2010BennettMaton_JCAL.pdf
Prensky,Marc. (2001). Digitial Natives, Digital Immigrants.
Retrieved November 5, 2016 from https://moodle.esc.edu/pluginfile.php/1809534/mod_assign/intro/Digital%20Natives%20-%20Digital%20Immigrants.pdf
In Constant Digital
Contact, We Feel ‘Alone Together’. NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2012/10/18/163098594/in-constant-digital-contact-we-feel-alone-together
Inspired by all assigned materials within the module. Image found through google image search and belongs
No comments:
Post a Comment