Growing Up Online

Read several posts from Group B, and refer to them in your response.

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


Reference to:
http://sashafajerstein.blogspot.com/
http://jmudrock.blogspot.com/

This video was somewhat eye-opening. I was aware of the prominence of internet in students lives these days, as previously being one. I do understand their feelings (I used to have a myspace and I currently have a facebook). High school is about finding yourself and expressing yourself. The internet has become the latest fad in doing so. It allows kids to be creative, meet new people, and yes, can ultimately put kids in situations they might not be ready for.

The thing is, prior to the internet, kids were doing the same things. The internet just makes everything more visible: kids are documenting their adventures and posting them to webpages. Before this, girls were going to shopping malls and meeting older men. Kids were still participating in alcoholic activities. Kids will be kids. I feel that the internet is just helping to expose what these kids are actually doing. What kids used to get away with years ago without parental knowledge, is now being exposed because of the children posting it on online websites.

I do understand Sasha's feelings of the impact being scary. The internet is worldwide and therefore kids can possibly get into more trouble than if they were just roaming around their town (depending upon location). More people can view what these kids are doing, and you never really know who all is looking at your website. Privacy settings are important and all parents should enforce the necessity of them. I personally wish that facebook was still only a college student network because I feel it would be much safer to keep out younger students and those that don't attend college. I personally keep up all of my privacy settings on the highest possible and my profile name is not even my full name.

In high school, webshots was just coming around. This was a website designated to uploading photos. I understand Jeff's feelings towards numerous members of his basketball team being suspended for posting pictures of drinking at a party. I personally never had to deal with this issue, but there were numerous instances of kids at my school being called to the office because of inappropriate pictures posting on webshots. Even after I graduated, my younger sister would tell me stories of how teachers would create fake facebooks to try to see what their students were like outside of the classroom. I feel that this is inappropriate and that what a child is like out of the classroom should not change the teacher's opinion on how to grade the child in class. I understand wanting to get to know your students as people but going about it in this was is wrong and should not have occurred.