Issues raised in the PBS presentation in Part 1
As a teacher and parent of teenagers
that grew up using internet, I understand that there are many challenges for
us. Social networking could be a great
tool if it is used with caution. Through my children and students, I have come
to know that there are many social networking sites. As a teacher I have heard my students
constantly talking about these sites that are part of their daily routine. These
sites might have many positive qualities but never the less they should be used
with caution because they can also become dangerous for them when all they want
to do is to sit in front of a computer or texting on their smart phones for hours and
hours, only worrying about who is more popular or have more virtual friends.
These social networking sites let the students to keep in touch with “virtual” friends from the entire world. These sites allow the teenagers to upload pictures on their page, giving other the opportunity to post comments about the pictures which at times could be detrimental because someone might posted a negative observation.
These social networking sites let the students to keep in touch with “virtual” friends from the entire world. These sites allow the teenagers to upload pictures on their page, giving other the opportunity to post comments about the pictures which at times could be detrimental because someone might posted a negative observation.
Furthermore, the fact that social networking is so impersonal would lead these teenagers to act in ways that they would not in real life, they have a different identity once they go online where they can express what they are feeling. Other teens use these online sites relationships to bully others because they think that there won’t be any consequences. But, the consequences for cyber bullying are becoming severe as the authorities and parents are starting to realize the seriousness of cyber bullying.
Finally, parents must
talk to their children about what they can share and what not online with
others, what to ignore and monitor their children online behaviors, the amount
of time that they spend chatting and texting controlling their teen’s internet
access, and their mobile phones.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/ and click “watch the full program online”
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6797340n
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yha7oa21YM&feature=relmfu
The
methods and implications of Obama campaign’s use of social networking tools in
Part 2
Social networking technology is now
more accessible in America and people are comfortable using these sites to
interact with others, in my opinion the Obama campaign of 2007 brought people
together by allowing them to interact with others from their neighborhood, or across
the country, living in another state but that shared the same believes or desires
of change, they could reach each other at any time by using the internet.
The Obama’s Campaign used technology
to their advantage creating a web site that had interactive elements to attract
people to their site, I feel that the Obama Campaign was a media operation that
let their supporters spread the campaign operation for them, faster and with a
fresher and up to date content. The other candidates where too conservative
with social networking sites that were poorly done or not kept up to date
because they had not grasped the growth in communication technology.
Finally, I am sure that by now all
the Political candidates know how important is to rely in the use of social
networking technologies as they are influencing everything around us not just
politics. I feel that Obama and his Website made everyone think about how the
political campaigns should be transformed in the future and use all the means
possible to reach the people and make them part to the process.
We
assume that one of the important aspects of the web is that it has the
potential to expose its users to multiple perspectives and to ideas they might
not otherwise encounter. This is
important for democracy, which to some extent, depends on people being able to
understand perspectives other than their own.
I believe that the
internet exposes us as users to multiple perspectives that we might not find
anywhere else, as it turns out the internet is the largest global advertising
platform that is used to push us to brands and products. Lanier said, “You are not a user” instead
“You are being used”. I don’t agree with him because they might be tracking
everything that we purchase and other transactions that we make on the
internet, but in the end it is so much easier to purchase something online
without having to go to the store, the internet has made everything easier and
more accessible to us creating techniques such as persuasion profiling
that finds things we like, and “it figures out how we think”.
It might also be truth
that the internet gives us information that reflects what we think, our
ideologies and assumptions according to our profile but I don’t think that
having the web feeding us information that encourages our personal views would
not let us make accurate informed decisions, there are other means for us to
find information and reflect on it. To
me, if the internet has personalizing our search process and sends our own
ideas back to us, it will allow us to reflect on them. I believe that now more
then ever everything is “out in the open”, and often we hear or read about
topics with which we might not totally agree.
Finally, I find that technology has brought forth
great innovations some of them that will improve the health of others, I don’t
believe in becoming a Robot or a woman-machine combination (unless is absolutely
necessary). . To me, the Internet has made
everything more accessible to us; it is a great tool for research. It is
an easy to access, up to date and in my opinion is a source of authentic
materials. The internet can be used for
purchases from clothes to food, it could be used to watch movies, listen to the
radio, or read the digital newspaper 
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