Just a warning, this will not be a happy post. (except for the bit at the end, which is mostly funny.)
I've encountered two different news articles today that have caught my attention and got my mind to thinking. One is incredibly stupid and the other is terrifyingly sad.
First the stupid.
The U of M MSA president created a private facebook group making fun of another member of MSA. You can read about it here but in summary, the facebook group was a joke between two members of MSA who didn't like the actions of a third, and created a facebook group. I suppose the lesson to be learned in this situation is that, generally, the internet is not private. The MSA president could have vented to his friend after class, over the phone, or in a coffee shop about his issues, but instead decided to use facebook as his medium. What he thought was merely a joke between friends turned into a scandal because he thought the internet was a private medium. It is not.
Now the sad.
First, read this in its entirety. What is so terrifyingly sad about this case is the girl was led to believe in a reality which simply was not true, and this deception would not have been possible without the anonymity provided by the internet. To this girl, the internet was real, she was talking to a real boy, with whom she felt a deep connection, and when he turned hurtful, I imagine it was like a close friend had slapped her in the face.
What I want to say in response to this is as follows: The internet is very real, and it is recorded. At the same time,anything you find on it can be false. You can be talking the person you believe, or someone else. A photo you are looking at could be accurate, or it could be photoshopped. The person e-mailing you asking to hold onto millions of dollars could be the prince of Nigeria, or it could be a scam.
One of the major problems is that the internet is anonymous. I feel that instituting a system where you explore the internet, but always identified as yourself, would alleviate many problems that occur on the web. In essence, it would more tightly tie the world of the web to reality, and force you to interact with people and places in the same ways you would in real life.
Looking over my post, I feel like it lacks focus, but I've been working on it intermittently over a few class periods, so thats understandable. I'll leave it as is.
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1 comment:
You bring up a great example of why it is SO important that we educate our students about appropriate uses of the internet. Students and children in general (I'm sure you could also include some adults in this category) believe that e-mail and computers are not evidence for foul play or because they are electronic and not written down on a piece of paper they do not get held to the same standard, which is completely untrue. Unfortunately, what all people need to be educated about is that typing something is equal to writing something down on a piece of paper and/or telling someone to their face. Actually, I have heard of internet bullying recently where students make false claims about another student and post it on their myspace page and from what I remember the school treated it as if the student harassing was bullying the other student on the playground. We will have to learn how to adjust to new generations along with changing technologies!
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