The Case for Social Networks

This is from the ISED-L elist. Posted here with permission by the author, Jason Johnson (no relation), under Creative Commons license. - Thanks, Jason. It's terrific. Doug

The Case for Social Networks

Jason  Jason Johnson

Director of Technology -- The Lowell School 1640 Kalmia Road, NW -- Washington, DC 20012
jjohnson@ lowellschool.org

I was asked to write a small opinion piece in response to a front page Washington Post Article on student blogs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/16/AR2006011601489.html It will not appear on-line so I thought I would post it here [ISED-L]  since it is heavily influenced by the discussion on this list.  My thanks to all those who will hopefully see some of their own voice reflected, as best I could, below. _Jason

===========================================

Like many educators I have been watching the social networking site phenomenon flower over the past year.  I  appreciated the front-page Washington Post article “Teens' Bold Blogs Alarm Area School” for its survey of the current state of affairs.  However, the article made it appear to be a new and alarming phenomenon when it has been a continual challenge since the introduction of the internet into homes and schools.  This is only the latest iteration.

At its core, the issue is not about technology at all, but about helping students understand where the public sphere ends and the private sphere begins, how to converse in those domains, and how to be part of a community. Too often we, as adults, make technology appear special and unique in some way and focus on the medium and not the message.  I have seen teachers do this by misinterpreting Marc Prensky’s dichotomy of students as “digital natives” and teachers as “digital immigrants.” Parents do it by proclaiming their ignorance of technology and what their “whiz” of a kid does on the
computer.  In doing so, they abdicate responsibility for a conversation that is, again, not about technology at all.

It is much harder to educate around what is public, what is private, and community participation.  These lines are shifting and blurred each day. We can blame the usual suspects like MTV’s “Laguna Beach” and any number of reality-based TV shows.  We can cry foul when we read that the Washingtonienne receive a $300,000 advance for writing a book after gaining notoriety for blogging her sex life on Capitol Hill. Parents and many schools find it easier to scare students away from the internet and block off large swaths as places full of sexual predators that will jump on the smallest personal detail and exploit it in horrific ways.

But students recognize the hypocrisy as their parent goes on a date with someone they met on Match.com; as their uncle marries a women he met through a Harley fan site; as their parents sit at a soccer game maintaining other relationships through email on their Blackberry rather than talking with one another. They compare what they see with the internet abstinence policies implemented by many schools and recommended by some national programs.   As a result they never really take the lessons to heart and learn only how to avoid issues on the internet, rather than how to cope with and defend
themselves. In addition, they are deprived of or must seek surreptitiously what has become a significant and accepted part of being social for both adults and children.

Those schools and parents that are no longer “alarmed” are having thoughtful discussions with students around how to be a citizen online.  As always, this includes some measure of avoidance and a digital safety net (either by content filter or usage tracking), but it also includes defenses as well. It includes advice on how to protect an online identity while still participating; how to judge and check on strangers you meet; common ploys; and how to dispose of your on line identity if need be.  And most importantly, they include how to judge what you should make public and what should be private.  Many times this discussion starts with what others (family, friends, college admissions officers) may think about their public
statements. A final step, that a very few take, is to address what students’ rights and responsibilities are.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation has an excellent guide for student bloggers that addresses this in a frank and straightforward manner.

It was telling to me when the American Psychological Association release a presentation on August 1st, 2004 on investigator’s experiences with internet sex crimes.  The study suggest most offenders did not deceive victims about the fact that they were adults interested in sexual relationships and that a major challenge for prevention is, “the population of young teens who are willing to enter into voluntary sexual relationships with adults whom they  meet online.”  This made explicit to me the fact that most of us had been having the wrong conversation. I think far more parents and educators are now having the right conversation.

Teen blogs are not about the technology – they are about feelings of belonging and being loved.  They are about trying on different personalities.  They are about someone who feels isolated connecting with others who share their interests or insecurities.  They are about all the same things that have existed for hundreds of years, hidden in notebooks and scribbled on bathroom walls and whispered over telephones. The content of MySpace.com bears discussion, not obstruction.  It is where some schools and parents are looking to better understand and aid their children and students.  Our dialogue should teach them to use the site effectively and about what they can hope to accomplish with it.  As the National Research Council report on protecting children from internet pornography analogized: “Swimming pools can be dangerous for children. To protect them, one can install locks, put up fences, and deploy pool alarms. All of these measures are helpful, but by far the most important thing that one can do for one's children is to teach them to swim.”  We all need to be training more swimmers.

Comments

[Quentin D'Souza]

Thanks for sharing this, the response to the article is excellent. I have been hoping to find some other responses in edublogs but have been thwarted for now.

[Liz Ditz]

Thanks so much for posting this, Doug, and for writing it, Jason. Just yesterday, my daughter's school hosted a presentation on online safety by....the local police department, that focused solely on the danger of internet pedophile predators. This is a timely rebuttal.

"We need to create more swimmers"--what a great metaphor that most parents, even the techno-illiterate, can understand.