Education and Social Networking

It seems that life was extraordinarily simple fifty years ago. There was a time in the world where if you wanted to say something to someone who lived far away you literally had to sit down and write your thoughts down on a piece of paper. Then you would send a letter via paper mail and the recipient would find great joy when receiving the heartfelt message that he or she had eagerly been awaiting. This left time to really read what someone had to say and respond thoughtfully. Web based communication technologies have changed the way we as human beings conceptualize personal expression, privacy, interpersonal relationship, and the ways in which we learn. Social networking technologies like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube could have both positive impacts and negative impacts in our society and that is exactly what is currently taking place all over the world. Social networking technology gives an instant opportunity for people to be the tutor and tutee. One of the main issues in my belief is that the networks are implemented so quickly and so widespread to all age groups who have access to technology that younger children’s emotional qualifications to use the technology don’t match the severe impact the technology could have emotionally.

I believe the gap between teacher and student could be better closed through social networking technology and maybe even shift the focus of inappropriate use of the technology like cyber bullying among young people. The shift could go from the negativity that comes from social networking which is a con to a pro which is learning useful information. All of the results from the article “Social Networking in Undergraduate Education” have a majority of students agreeing that social networking sites like Facebook positively impacts building/strengthening a sense of community within a learning environment and organization. The results also prove a majority of students agree that social media strengthens their interpersonal relationships, enhance the learning process, make classes more interesting, keeps them more engaged, and enhances class discussion. The only limitation to the study is that it was only done at a majority minority based University so the perspectives were mainly focused on African American people. The study would be more effective if it was done in many different Universities with a more evenly distributed mix of cultures and ethnicities. The social networking technology Facebook was also closely compared to the student learning and networking technology, Blackboard. I found it very interesting that although majority agreed the benefits of social networking technology outweighed the negatives, the category of “strongly agree” was much lower.

I have had mixed experiences with social networking and I could see the pros but I can also see the negatives. Personally speaking, based on past experiences I have really withdrawn from social media because I think there is a lot of potential conflict that could occur through the sites but as I read more and more information and grow older, I feel that I could at this point in my life experience more positives than negatives. As far as my students go, I know that a lot of my students use technology very often.