The Internet - A World Which All Teens Own
One of the videos shown in class on Saturday, November 4, 2006 about how the internet is a ‘world of its own’ for teenagers started off a train of thought in my mind:I have observed that parents have become more and more concerned about who their kids are socializing with online, and no wonder. Teens are spending increasingly more time communicating online with friends, and some of those friends are people they’ve never seen. They are becoming more and more reliant on the internet and other new media to communicate with their peers, and many say that they feel they can reveal more about themselves through this type of communication than telling in person.
It is possible that multiple modes of communication allow for expressing and connecting at a deeper level. Many teens report that some of their closest friendships are nurtured online and it’s easier to show their true selves online. They may hesitate to make statements to another teen in person but may feel more comfortable making the same statements in an online fashion. Because an online outlet for communication is available, the communication continues where it might not in its absence.
Social networking sites are a vital part of youth communication. Three in four teens have an online profile in a community or social networking sites. On average teens with social networking sites have 75 friends posted on that site.
Friendships are easily cultivated online because this is where youth are communicating with each other: 81 per cent have an IM buddy list, 85 per cent have an email contact list, 75 per cent have an online profile, and 77 per cent have cell phones that can have internet access.
I strongly believe that parents should be cognizant of the online world their children are socializing in and give them similar tools necessary to evaluate on-ground relationships. There are plenty of groups that parents can investigate to learn about online safety – ikeepsafe.org, blogsafety.com, wiredsafety.com and getnetwise.org.
(Source of statistics: Study released early November, 2006 by Harris Interactive and Alloy Media + Marketing).
-Rati Sud
posted by Mark H. @ 11/08/2006 02:17:00 PM
2 Comments:
One thought I had while watching that video was that today's kids are considered "technologically advanced" because they can set up a MySpace page while simultaneously IM'ing four people and playing XBox. For most people "technologically advanced" is synonymous with "super smart."
My experience tells me though that while these kids are good at using technology it's at the expense of other areas of knowledge. The first area that comes to mind is writing, particularly spelling and grammar. Internet shorthand aside, I'm continually astonished at younger peoples' inability to write effectively, with proper grammar, correct spelling and good sentence structure.
So, I don't know if kids are any smart because of technology. If you asked them what the capital of Nebraska is, they probably wouldn't know...but they could look it up on Wikipedia!
- Max Ashburn
Max -- You are onto something, but I don't think it has as much to do with smarts as it does with skill sets. Recent articles indeed decry the loss of handwriting skills, in addition to grammar skills. Students are writing in block letters on SATs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001475_pf.html
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