Week 2-Web Technology Concepts

This week in class, we watched a few presentations and videos that showed how web technology is evolving and affecting students. The presentation that really stuck out to me was Frontline's "Growing Up Online". It had 7 different chapters that showed different aspects of life on the internet, and I found it extremely engaging. They showed that most students live a huge part of their lives on the internet, and much of that is hidden from the view of parents or teachers. They highlighted a few different personal stories that illustrated this. They showed a girl who was able to find a second life for herself online. She lived her alternative life through photos that she posted, and gained a following while her parents knew nothing of what was going on. Another girl had an eating disorder and she used the internet to find support to help her keep up with it. She would go online often and read things that would motivate her and it was not necessarily healthy. One story that really stuck out to me was about cyberbullying. A young boy was bullied so much by his peers online, that he eventually committed suicide. It made me feel so angry and upset that things like that could go on without parents even noticing. Many children are living a double life online and it can be positive or negative.

Since I am studying education, it is important that I am aware of what is going on with students and their online behavior. The amount of time that students spend online means that their internet usage is directly shaping who they are and what information they are gaining on a daily basis. If I want to be able to impact the lives of my students, then I need to understand and embrace the importance of the internet to students. Also, there is a lot of danger on the internet and if I do not understand that, then I may not be doing the best for my students.

A website that illustrates this concept is a newly popular website called ChatRoulette. This website links random strangers by webcam and has a "Next" button for the user to shuffle through video feeds. This concept is meant to link people around the world and provide a wordly view and integrate diversity, however, it can be very inappropriate depending on who you stumble on. This website is becoming very popular with college students and now even younger children are beginning to go on. This great tool, which can stimulate such interesting, diverse conversation, can also be used in a very negative way. This is being done with many different tools on the internet, just as the young boy who committed suicide was bullied on a basic online chat. If you do not have an unbiased, fair view of the internet, then you may miss some of the dangers and let students misuse the tools that are available online.