Growing Up Online

In educational technologies class, we watched slightly older Frontline documentary about a generation of kids growing up online, with access to the internet and social media.  The documentary dealt with the use of technologies in the school system, how social media affects student's behaviors, and some of the negative consequences such as cyber bullying and even provocative behavior to be popular.  While some of the material is a little data, the concepts can be carried over to the newer generations and what kind of technologies they use today that keeps them online an connected 24/7.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/view/

Why do you think the number of parents who reported the Internet being a good thing for their children has decreased?

I believe that the reason that parents have reported a decrease in the Internet being a good thing for their children comes down to lack of technical knowledge and the media.  Most parents are not as tech savvy as their children, and this creates the illusion that parents can't monitor or trust online activity, giving a sense of loss of control.  Another reason is that the media needs to make its money by coming up with scare tactic stories.  In the video, a study found that most kids knew not to talk to or take propositions from strangers that they didn't know online, which unfortunately doesn't align with some of the news' companies stories that they want their viewers to watch.  This has helped create mistrust with parents' children and using the internet.

In terms of student writing, what are some different types of "cheating"? What are the elements you would include in your definition of "cheating"?

There are two different ways that students can cheat with a writing assignment.  One way is to use sights that create cliff notes or summaries of the stories, so that student's don't have to actually read and reflect what the literary meaning of the articles or stories.  The worst way of cheating that can be found in students writings is plagiarism, or taking other's ideas without giving proper credit.  I do believe that plagiarism is what I would consider in my definition of cheating, however as much as I would like students to actually read and interpret on their own, I don't think sites that give summaries of literary would be considered cheating.

" Should students feel guilty for using “shortcuts” like this? Why or why not?

I think that student's should feel guilty for shorting themselves the experience of reading and interpreting stories and articles, but not that they are cheating.  I bet that when graphing calculators first started to be used in every statistic and calculus classroom, that there were those who thought it felt like cheating, however we should always be able to find value in tools that help us understand the material better.  Books can be considered wonderful tools, but just like long proofs and calculations, maybe some students can interpret better with the cliff notes rather than the original.

What are the positive and negative consequences of blurring the line between being a celebrity and a regular person?

A couple of positives that can come from blurring the line between celebrity and regular person would be finding friends and people you belong with and also for a young person it can be a way to create experiences in trying to find your true self.  Now there are many negative consequences as in Autumn Edow's case is that it can create behavior that isn't proper for a child, just to find attention.  Another consequence is that it can start to blur the lines between reality and online personas, causing psychological problems that can be hidden from parents and other love ones.

What elements of this FRONTLINE program are likely to increase parents’ fears? What elements of the program might be reassuring?

I think some of the elements that can cause fear with parents is cyber bullying, which Frontline took to extreme by talking about child suicide, creating the fear that this could happen from your child using the internet.  I think parents knowing that most kids are smart enough to not be duped by predators is reassuring and also the report about schools teaching children how to be good internet citizens.

What are some of the short- and longer-term consequences of these types of behaviors for life online and in the real world?

Some short term consequences are cyber bullying and the sense of rebellion that can come from life online.  Longer term consequences would be psychological damage, loss of identity, loss of self control, loss of reality, and in the most extreme cases death.