DGL - Social Media Debate

For this to happen, it works better if kids have parents that they can engage with. The best rule of thumb is to be 'friends' with your child on Facebook. If a kid won't friend a parent, it's usually a sign that something's not right

The report found that social media encourage kids to connect with each other and to express their creativity. They also provide an opportunity for learning, and are a way for teens to access health information. And, kids that have chronic illnesses can find others with their condition and get support they might not otherwise have access to.

made by Barack Obama.  Leaks of the information came so quickly and although it was chalked up to be rumour, it obviously was confirmed after.  More people are turning to the Twitter search function to find out about events in real time from people who are willing to share.  It is rare now that any reporter would not have a Twitter account so they can be the first to share the story, which is much easier from a phone in 140 characters, as opposed to a long article written even on a website.

I started teaching social media to Berkeley and Stanford students five years ago when I realized that the answer to the question I’ve been asked by readers, critics, and scholars about my own work over the last 20 years – “are personal computers and Internet-based communications good for us as individuals, communities, democracies?” – is “it depends on what people know about how to use these tools.” Whether digital media will be beneficial or destructive in the long run doesn’t depend on the technologies, but on the literacy of those who use them.

Last year, I was awarded a small grant by the MacArthur Foundation to develop an easy to use online tool that integrates forums, blogs, wikis, and other social media. The free and open source “Social Media Classroom,” accompanied by curricular material for teachers who want to use social media to teach students about social media issues and literacies (and other subjects) is now available online , along with a community of practice where educators can teach and learn from each other. We don’t have time for institutions to change, which is why I’ve worked to provide tools for those educators who are using social media to prepare students for the 21st century.

About the Author Recipient of the 2008 MacArthur Knowledge-Networking Grant, Howard Rheingold has a proven record of accurate technology and social forecasting over two decades of syndicated columns, bestselling books, and pioneering online enterprises. Among his five books, Smart Mobs was named one of the “Big Ideas books of 2002″ by The New York Times. Howard’s frequent television and radio appearances range from Good Morning America, to CNN, to NPR, to MacNeil/Lehrer.

Engaging in various forms of social media is a routine activity that research has shown to benefit children and adolescents by enhancing communication, social connection, and even technical skills. Social media sites such as Facebook offer multiple daily opportunities for connecting with friends, classmates, and people with shared interests. (The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families)

Social media sites allow teens to accomplish online many of the tasks that are important to them offline: staying connected with friends and family, making new friends, sharing pictures, and exchanging ideas. Social media participation also can offer adolescents deeper benefits that extend into their view of self, community, and the world, including: opportunities for community engagement through raising money for charity and volunteering for local events, including political and philanthropic events; enhancement of individual and collective creativity through development and sharing of artistic and musical endeavors; growth of ideas from the creation of blogs, podcasts, videos, and gaming sites; expansion of one’s online connections through shared interests to include others from more diverse backgrounds (such communication is an important step for all adolescents and affords the opportunity for respect, tolerance, and increased discourse about personal and global issues); and fostering of one’s individual identity and unique social skills. (The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families)

“Two to three years ago and I wasn’t able to talk to people face to face. Like, this right now, I wouldn’t have been able to explain anything. I would have been all shy and weird looking, sort of.”  As a teenager, Kyle was introduced to the social network website MySpace, and then later, Facebook, and he credits both with helping him to be able to have friends and conversations today.”It’s basically just the fact that you don’t have to have a person staring back at you with what you’re saying. I try to share a lot of inspirational quotes,” he explains. “This one says ‘the best relationships tend to begin unexpectedly.’ I can vouch for that.”

Slightly more than half of Americans 65 and older use the Internet, compared with well over three-quarters of those under 65.

In addition, Internet use is lowest in the South, particularly in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas.

The percentage of people 18 years and older in the United States who have adopted the Internet over the past two decades has grown at a rate not seen since the popularization of the telephone, soaring nearly fivefold, from 14 percent in 1995

But do social networking sites have any educational benefits? Aside from helping students to make new friends, do social networking sites facilitate learning? The answer seems to be that they do. The National Literacy Trust found that social networking sites and blogs help students to develop more positive attitudes toward writing and to become more confident in their writing abilities.

More than 60 per cent of students who blog and 56 per cent of students who have a profile on a social networking site claim to be “good” or “very good” writers, compared with only 47 per cent of those who don’t use online formats.