Sorry I have been M.I.A. for the past week, when the wi-fi
goes down it a foreign country, it is not apparently a simple fix. However, I
am back now! This week, we are going to talk about social media, ironic.
Envision a world where you can log into your virtual
classroom without leaving your bed, where you can work in real time with fellow
classmates; posting information and collaborating on projects. What if you
could take exams from your kitchen table, and never have to waste money and gas
driving to campus.
Oh, wait. That’s already happening. I am doing it right now!
Regardless of how you attend class, do your assignments, or work
with classmates, we all use social media. Don’t think of yourself as the social
media “type?” Well, you are reading this, aren’t you? Yeah that’s what I thought…
Personally, I have a private Facebook account, Twitter
account, multiple Gmail accounts, this blog, Instagram, and even a really old
Neopets account. Social Media takes up a good portion of my downtime, and I bet
it does yours too. These days it is hard to ignore social media, everyone wants
you to “friend them” on (insert media site name here), and believe me, it gets
awkward when you tell someone you don’t use social media. In this day and age,
most people my age thinks it’s strange and that you must have something to hide
if you don’t use social media.
In higher ed, social media is playing an increasingly
important and potentially dangerous role.
Potentially dangerous, you say? We will get to that in a bit…
Most of us that are in college and possibly even high school
use some form of online communication to work with professors and classmates
between class meetings. My school personally uses Blackboard. This technology
enables us to communicate quickly and effectively, work on assignments, and
collaborate with each other. This is one of the definite up-sides to social
media.
Dangerous, oh yes. Potentially, that is. With social media
becoming the centerpiece for many debates, especially surrounding bullying
online and suicide, it is important to use it for good, not evil and that can
be difficult to do without breaching someone else’s privacy. Also, we all know
it is important to keep work and home lives separate. I personally feel the
same about school.
While there are many advantages to being so connected to
others in this day and age, there are also disadvantages as well as I’m sure
many of us know. How many times have you been sitting at dinner with friends
and all they do is play with their phones? How many times have you made this
offense yourself? I worry about how we continue to rely on technology in both
personal and educational settings. Have you ever seen Wall-E? I worry we will
all become the zombified humans in the hover-chairs with tv screens glued to
our faces.
Until next time,
Kelly
