Post by Alex on Dec 5, 2011 22:26:23 GMT -5
There were many notable things on this video. The three biggest things I’d like to comment on. First it’s the fine line between supervision and caution and privacy. The strain between parents and kids over their life online, I myself have this struggle. I do believe that the problem isn’t going away but it’s not illegitimate either. Parents have their fears about what can happen online when they can’t monitor it, while kids have their need for privacy. I don’t believe going off on a monitoring spree and trying to stand over your kid’s shoulder and go “What are you doing online, who are you talking to etc” that’s not about to make the kids start revealing their online life in fact, it’s going to cause them to push their parents away further and they are already far enough. I agree with the method that one of the family came up with, get an envelope with the password with the understanding IF PER CHANCE something happens, the parents can then and ONLY then look at it.
Now this brings me to talk about the second point, online etiquette or rather the lack thereof. I’ve seen this many times both in Youtube, Gaia and many other sites. I am the first one to admit that you can say what you want online and you are free to express yourself but I will not sit there and condone people disrespecting people for no reason, it’s just not right. To humiliate someone, to cause them so much pain emotionally and eventually lead them to kill themselves over something as stupid as internet it’s…absurd and absolutely should not be happening. In this sense monitoring might be good but I would say at this point educate the site creators and moderators and have them act efficiently and swiftly because the parents are not about to have this information because kids just aren’t willing to share it. The people who use the internet to harm and harass others should be seriously reprehended, severely.
As far as schools and internet and cheating policies go, I say that what children say on the video is right but I also see the sides where the teachers are coming from. This again is a fine line between freedom and control and as far as cheating is concerned, it’s inevitable that people are going to use sparksnotes, I’m the first one to admit it my generation is too lazy to read and if we’re spending 20+ hours online, we’re not reading for school it just isn’t happening. I say that teachers need to accept it but have severe policies on cheating. Yes, the information is fine but teach them to cite them, and as far as papers go, www.turnitin.com is our best friend or so I heard when I was doing my grad paper in high school.
With all this being said, this video taught me nothing new but reinforced what I already knew that the internet is going nowhere which means its up to the parents to protect and supervise without over doing it, children should be educated and taught to know better and teachers should assimilate and learn to be more acquainted with the new technology. I say when everyone does their part, than this whole problem of needing to hide, the cyberbullying it will get better, it won’t go away but it will get better.