At one point in our lives, we were all teenagers. We all understand the struggle of trying to keep our lives private, especially from our parents and other adults. However, there was also a certain part of our life that we wanted public and shared - especially with friends. Today's teens have a bigger challenge with this private/public balance because so much of their life and sharing takes place online through social networking. As Boyd explains in this chapter, "There’s a big difference between being in public and being public. Teens want to gather in public environments to socialize, but they don’t necessarily want every vocalized expression to be publicized." This is difficult in terms of social media because online conversations, such as comments and posts on Facebook, can easily be viewed by the public and other individuals you may not necessarily want to be involved in that "conversation".
Network privacy is a more difficult type of privacy to acquire than the privacy of teens prior to those in the technology age. For example, some teens may have taken their friends to their room, posted a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, and whispered a conversation in hopes of nobody eavesdropping. Today, teens have a lot of conversations online or through text messaging. However, these words are written not spoken. As such, the conversation can easily be accessed long after it's over. This could bring up controversy as time passes. Network privacy take skill, knowledge and awareness of policies, programs and conditions to fully understand in its entirety. As such, teens need to be aware of the program and network they are using, and it's privacy policy. Without the knowledge and skill of navigating a network appropriately, a conversation or information may not be as private as one would assume. As Boyd states in this chapter, "Much to many adults' surprise, teens aren't looking to hide; they just want privacy". Thus, we know teens want privacy. However, it is important for them to be knowledgeable of network privacy in order to achieve the privacy they are looking for.
Chapter 7: Literacy
This chapter focuses on the question of today's youths being digital natives. This was very interesting for me to read because that is such a common term I hear lately regarding individuals who were born in this technology era. After reading the chapter, I very much agree that not everyone born after a certain date is a digital native. To be a digital native, you really have to immerse yourself in the world of technology and understand the ins and outs, multiple uses and variety of skills that go with technologies. As such, a 14 year old with an Instagram account isn't a digital native solely because she was born in a year where technology was very much present in the world around her. Rather, an individual, regardless of age, who utilizes many forms of technology, has a variety of skills to teach and understand technology, and connects with others by doing so is a digital native. By definition, according to this chapter, “Digital natives share a common global culture that is defined not by age, strictly, but by certain attributes and experiences related to how they interact with information technologies, information itself, one another, and other people and institutions. Those who were not ‘born digital’ can be just as connected, if not more so, than their younger counterparts. And not everyone born since, say, 1982, happens to be a digital native.” This quote truly summed up what it means to be digitally native. Again, age has nothing to do with whether or not someone is digitally native. Rather, their use of the digital world makes them digitally native.
Meghan, I also read chapter 7 and wrote about digital natives. The chapter also discussed digital immigrants which are adults who are supposedly less knowledgable about technology and less capable of developing these skills. I guess I always assumed that today's youth did automatically understand new technologies but after reading the chapter I realize this isn't always the case. Understanding and navigating various types of technology is a matter of practice, use, and education.
ReplyDeleteMeghan,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your take on chapter 2, I think that teens thrive for that "privacy" and to be accepted whether in the real world or social media world. The part that they lack is the ability to decipher between what is truly "private". They need to be aware of what they are putting out there. I think as teachers we need to educate them on the "do's and dont's" of the social media world. It can keep them safe and it can show them responsibility. If they are all on common ground about what is "private", they may stop pointing fingers at what their peers are posting and realize what they are posting. We need to stop shying away from the topic of social networks/internet and educate our students, and provide them with the knowledge that will benefit them further down the road.
Meghan,
ReplyDeleteI think you raised a great point about the different generations, and their perceptions of public vs private. We have all been on social media and seen people share things, that they thought were private, that weren't. The older generation tends to understand the rules regarding privacy and what's public, where as you said, the younger generation needs to be educated on internet safety, and whats appropriate for the internet. I hope with this class we will be introduced to strategies that will help us better educate our students' on internet safety and privacy laws.