And on and on to the cyber bullying issue

And we begin this week by reading this article from The Age. Linky.

Here is a cyber bullying-related picture.

Firstly, the first paragraph of that article from The Age is absolute rubbish. It heartened me to see this line following it: "With respect to the archbishop, that attitude is so last century." Good.

Um. So there is no doubt that young people today interact with eachother through internet-based social networks to an increasingly massive extent. I think it disingenuous to claim that when we use these social networks we expose ourselves to only the festering underbelly of the worst of human nature. What we do expose ourselves to is the the best and worst of people - in whatever context they come to us. We can, in fact, choose who to interact with on the internet. I think the problem comes when we frequent websites and social networks, online, that allow for anonymity. When one is able to cover themselves with the cloak of anonymity, let's be honest, there is the possibility of them acting out knowing that their identity is safe and therefore they are safe from repercussions.

However, it is also the case that online environments are not as well policed as those in the real-world and bullying taking place at school can continue online. Such online bullying is harder for the teacher to deal with because it can take place at home, with consequences arising also in the schoolyard. What to do? I don't know. There are no shortage of experts in this field trying to answer that question.

For their possible downsides, social networking does improve our technology and communication (yes, it's true) skills, boosts our creativity, exposes us to new and different world views, provides us with a cheap and easy way of keeping in contact with friends and family (whether they're in just the next room, or half a world away). It also teaches us to design and edit content and to share and engage in creative works - poetry, art, photography, and video content. This is all from a study conducted by the University of Minnesota. The study also found that students who frequent social networking sites do better in exams. True!

Perhaps the key to letting exposing the students to the benefits of social networking, while shielding them from the dangers is just, simply, education - and that's something we'll have to do as teachers, and with students from an early age, right through until they leave us behind for high school. There are now a range of interactive websites to help us with this - and it is a big field - we must cover everything from "don't give out your address to strangers", to cyber-bullying.

Let's be honest, social networking is here to stay, for at least the visible future. The benefits of social networking are now becoming clear - we need to make sure students can acess these benefits while being safe. However, nonsense being spouted by people with no qualification to speak in the area - like the archbishop at the beginning of The Age's article - does not help us. It just doesn't. Let's be logical, rational and thoughtful on this issue, and every issue, and not just utterly useless reactionaries, please!

Here's a cute dog.
Bye for now.