I found a link to a presentation given by Carrie James at the Social Good Summit 2010 on Professor Harlan’s Twitter account that made me stop and reflect on what the presenter was talking about. I have seen many issues with Internet use among teens and tweens, but I have never really thought about it in ethical terms. The study that was done though Harvard covered many aspects of social media usage and how the users view their time and contributions. One girl pointed out that, “I do what I want online…I don’t feel like it’s anyone’s business to tell me what I shouldn’t do…I don’t feel responsible to anyone…it’s for me.” The thought that teens and tweens might think this way is incredibly shocking to me, but not completely unexpected. I have heard the same thing from numerous adults. What worries me the most is that if the youth are seeing that lack of ethical thinking or personal responsibility in adults, then how can we expect them to cultivate it? This idea that whatever chosen social media, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, video games, etc, is a free-for-all, or just for fun is rather alarming to me. One of the suggestions the author makes is to encourage youth to think beyond themselves to the public spaces they are contributing to, and what kind of an effect their contribution could be making. She uses the phrase from Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility”, and when we think about the power that the Internet, specifically, has it brings to my attention the great need we have to encourage ethical thinking and usage of the social media sites the teens/tweens around us might be using. There are many ways we might go about that, but I believe that the most efficient is example and teaching. If we articulate our choice to be circumspect or thoughtful about how a comment or action online might affect others they will see that and it might spark a thought in their head the next time they are encouraged or offered the opportunity to participate in something questionable. My closing question turns the tables back on us, as the adults…how are we in our behavior online? Are we as ethical as we should be? Do we think beyond ourselves and our small group of associates to how our comments, actions or shared thoughts are being taken and processed?
James, C. (2010). Harvard study finds teens online lack ethics. Retrieved on September 20, 2010 from http://mashable.com/2010/09/21/ethical-consideration-online/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29
No comments:
Post a Comment