I was nearly finished composing my thoughts when the power went out at my school. The kids had been dismissed so not a huge deal other than my work was lost!! Power was restored a minute or so later......
I am comfortable with the embedding code and now realize I added a widget before the assignment was given. I have learned to not be so afraid of just trying something since this is a machine and not a body!
I joined FB about a year ago after a niece introduced me to it. She told me it was addictive. Yes, it is. I think that people are too busy these days and it is a great way to stay in touch with friends and family. All of my family lives in other states or too far away so it is a great communication tool for me. I learned that FB draws people in with it's games that are readily available. I stopped doing those within a few days as I was not getting anything done. But, I do know several people that are very, very addicted to the games and it makes me kind of nervous to tell the truth. I keep wondering how they are taking care of their young children or chores at home.
I have several support groups online. I belong to several dealing with adopted children from China and for single moms who have adopted from China. I have become friends with and actually met up with single moms and we do activities together. I posted in a previous Thing about how I have emailed, talked, texted, shared pictures, and hopefully a face to face vacation with people I have met online. I tend to be outgoing and not shy so I am probably the same way with any online communication. I feel that my friendships online will remain even once we meet up in person. I would hope so at least!!
Teenagers go through so much simply because it is their age that hands them a lot of strange times in their lives. I DO worry about the My Space and Facebook sites for many kids because of their innocence and not realizing that what they put out there is out there forever. I worry that it gives them social boldness in ways that they would not behave that way if it was face to face. I have been STUNNED at pictures I have seen within my own family when it comes to younger nieces and nephews. I realized that they do NOT understand the permanency of pictures and words. However, I do believe that parents and guardians need to wise up and be aware of what their kids are doing. Parents don't realize what their kids are doing with cell phones. It's nothing more than a small computer and for some reason I feel parents think that cell phones aren't a big deal. My big concern and I know it is showing my age is the fact that kids do spend a lot of time socializing electronically rather than in person. It will be interesting to see how this works out in the future.
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"Social boldness" - that's a great way to describe the attitude many young people have when using social networking tools. Steve Dembo is a nationally known speaker and he often talks about the "new permanent record" that students are creating for themselves online.
ReplyDeleteI always tell my students to be prudent about what they put on their social networking pages. I have known of incidents where an individuals posts on Facebook or MySpace have led to legal issues, and problems with an employer. Technology has made it very easy for kids to paint themselves in a negative light without even realizing it (even though they often should).
ReplyDeleteI agree with your FaceBook statements. I learned a whole lot more about my nieces and nephew than a I really wanted to from the pictures and comments they posted. But, it is a good tool to stay in touch with people anytime of the day/night.
ReplyDeleteThe students do need to be educated about the permanency of their social networking websites. I read somewhere that companies who are hiring now look for the applicant's FaceBook pages. That would not be good for some!