Thing #22 - Social Networking

My daughter has been using social networking since middle school. She started with Xanga and then went to MySpace and now she also has a Facebook. I remember all the times that I have told her to get off the computer and stop taking those quizzes and stop filling out those surveys. Now I find myself doing the same thing she was doing without the quizzes and surveys. My son also has a MySpace, he had a Facebook also until he found out my wife and I also had one. He proceeded to get rid of his because he thought that was weird. I have heard all the negatives about how these sites are dangerous and have talked to both of them about it, but this is how this generation communicates, through the internet and text.

It is important for us as educators to understand how times have changed. Just look at the ages of kids that are now getting cell phones, it gets younger and younger every year. Spending hours and hours on the telephone talking to friends is no longer the thing, both of my kids say they hate to talk on the phone. And when I call them to try and talk to them, they don't conversate very well, so I believe them. They know how all their friends are doing by checking the blogs and posts of their friends web pages. Educators need to figure out how to use this to our advantage, it is a very powerful tool. Posting messages on Facebook to remind your students of an up coming test, or dead lines for projects, or to post a homework question and have them comment or link to a related site would be very a great tool to have in your toolbox.

As far as the the issue of MySpace vs Facebook, I pick Facebook. I found it much easier to use, not as crowded, and I it helps you find people from your past that you may have lost contact with. I have been catching up with old friends that I grew up with, went to middle school with, and high school but just for one reason or another lost contact with them. Having taught and coached for the past 12 years I have even found former students and athletes on Facebook. Being able to keep up with them has really been neat.