Ghost in the Machine
Posted by Well Read Hostess at 1/15/2008 3:01 PM and is filed under What I Know About Your Teenager That You Don't 
MySpace has just agreed to a few safety measures designed to protect underage users from sexual predators and other nefarious types. This morning I heard a statistic about how many registered sex offenders had MySpace pages/profiles, but of course I can't remember it now. What I do remember is that it was astonishing...many, many thousands.
I'm glad that MySpace, Facebook, and whomever else is dominating the youth online market these days is taking action to try to improve their products and everyone's experiences with their products, but I don't think security is the biggest problem.
Absolutely, web based social programs suck up a huge amount of the average adolescent's "free time;" time that could be better spent doing thousands of other things, like, say, reading or cleaning their rooms. At this point, though, any parent who isn't monitoring his/her child's online activities...and I don't care what kind of trust issues this raises or how responsible the child is...is willfully disregarding any conventional wisdom about teens and computer use. Everybody has heard it: put the computer in a public space in the house, monitor the history and cached files, use parental controls. How many people do it? I don't know. Caveat Emptor. But you should hear what my ninth grade students are looking at and saying to each other online. It would make your hair stand on end.
More worrisome to me is what I can only see as an addiction to cell phones. If I had an extra week every month, I'd embark on a longitudinal study about the effects of hand-held technology on adolescents' intellectual and emotional development. The kids I see daily are, generally speaking, rule-following, high-achieving, well-mannered kids. There are rules about when they can have their phones out at school and when they can't. These rules might as well not exist...and, plug for the profession, not for teachers' lack of trying. More kids than not are on their phones, texting or talking, all day long. Before school (and who on earth is a 15 year old text messaging at 7:30 in the morning??!! This baffles me), between classes, during lunch, and for sure, the second the last bell rings at the end of the day. This can't be good! Students absolutely text each other during classes when the teacher's back is turned, and sometimes when the teacher is looking right at them.
I realize that I sound like a cranky, shriveled up old lady, spinster teacher. But really, who are these kids talking to and why? As an adolescent, and believe me, I did adolescence up right...your basic nightmare of teenage girl drama and bad behavior, my time was spent trying to interact with as many people, face to face, as possible. How else is a girl supposed to perfect the hair flip and eyelash bat?
I guess I just don't get it. Everything happens so fast for these kids. Given how much we are learning about brain development and learning, isn't it dangerous to become acclimated to one-off abbreviated communication? These are not pathways anyone wants burned in permanently, are they? How can kids learn about body language and the nuances of tone and style and rhythm of communication if they are never face to face.
I don't have teenagers. When my kids are old enough, I reserve the right to come back here and delete every word of this so as not to be revealed as a liar and hypocrite, but I hope I don't have to. I'm trying not to rant, and I'm not judging...instead maybe I'm just hoping that we don't settle for less than what our kids deserve.
I'm glad that MySpace, Facebook, and whomever else is dominating the youth online market these days is taking action to try to improve their products and everyone's experiences with their products, but I don't think security is the biggest problem.
Absolutely, web based social programs suck up a huge amount of the average adolescent's "free time;" time that could be better spent doing thousands of other things, like, say, reading or cleaning their rooms. At this point, though, any parent who isn't monitoring his/her child's online activities...and I don't care what kind of trust issues this raises or how responsible the child is...is willfully disregarding any conventional wisdom about teens and computer use. Everybody has heard it: put the computer in a public space in the house, monitor the history and cached files, use parental controls. How many people do it? I don't know. Caveat Emptor. But you should hear what my ninth grade students are looking at and saying to each other online. It would make your hair stand on end.
More worrisome to me is what I can only see as an addiction to cell phones. If I had an extra week every month, I'd embark on a longitudinal study about the effects of hand-held technology on adolescents' intellectual and emotional development. The kids I see daily are, generally speaking, rule-following, high-achieving, well-mannered kids. There are rules about when they can have their phones out at school and when they can't. These rules might as well not exist...and, plug for the profession, not for teachers' lack of trying. More kids than not are on their phones, texting or talking, all day long. Before school (and who on earth is a 15 year old text messaging at 7:30 in the morning??!! This baffles me), between classes, during lunch, and for sure, the second the last bell rings at the end of the day. This can't be good! Students absolutely text each other during classes when the teacher's back is turned, and sometimes when the teacher is looking right at them.
I realize that I sound like a cranky, shriveled up old lady, spinster teacher. But really, who are these kids talking to and why? As an adolescent, and believe me, I did adolescence up right...your basic nightmare of teenage girl drama and bad behavior, my time was spent trying to interact with as many people, face to face, as possible. How else is a girl supposed to perfect the hair flip and eyelash bat?
I guess I just don't get it. Everything happens so fast for these kids. Given how much we are learning about brain development and learning, isn't it dangerous to become acclimated to one-off abbreviated communication? These are not pathways anyone wants burned in permanently, are they? How can kids learn about body language and the nuances of tone and style and rhythm of communication if they are never face to face.
I don't have teenagers. When my kids are old enough, I reserve the right to come back here and delete every word of this so as not to be revealed as a liar and hypocrite, but I hope I don't have to. I'm trying not to rant, and I'm not judging...instead maybe I'm just hoping that we don't settle for less than what our kids deserve.
When we were kids we tried stuff out. Some of it we liked and we kept doing it. Some of it we liked but realized it wasn't good for us so we stopped doing it. Some of it we hated. I get tired of the same old diatribe, things were better when I was a kid. Kids today are trying stuff out and just like us some of it they will keep doing and some of it they won't. Text messaging is fun, I love it and I'm old. FaceBook and My space would have flourished if they were around when we were in high school. Another opportunity to communicate with other people, I think it is a great idea. Of course as a parent you have to make sure you take precautions but other then that I celebrate those sites. What is there to do in this society for teenagers ? There are very few places for them to assemble and learn how to interact as you describe it in your bogl(like that name for blog?)Where are they going to meet, the mall, the fast food joints, a pizza place, the net gives them the opportunity to interact when otherwise they might not. Kids that are well adjusted, whatever that means, will continue to be happy and successful. But now these sites are giving other kids a chance that are sure enough of themselves a place to interact and try stuff out. Things weren't better in my opinion in the past. Homosexuals were told to stay in the closet. Women's rights, Minority rights were all woefully behind the times. Kids today are doing just what we did. Trying to figure things out. Because they are using a different vehicle, the internet, then we did doesn't make it any better or worse. Just different. I'm consistently impressed with the majority of teenagers I meet. They are sharp, engaging and technologically savy, something that should serve them well when they become older and look at the kids of today and try to make the argument that things were better back when.
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