Social (Networking) Responsibility

In 1999 there were no i-pods, not many people under the age of 16 had a cell phone, and many households (mine included) used dial-up to connect to the Internet. At this time AOL instant messaging was just becoming popular and on-line profiles were constructed with more care than an English Lit paper. Who chatted with whom for how long each night and had the cutest profile with the most icons and symbols were the hot topics to discuss at lunch. It seemed simple, so simple that you could make up a new screen name, develop an online profile, and have conversations posing as someone else. In 1999 bullying, let alone cyberbullying, was not on the national agenda as cause for concern among middle schoolers apart from instances of extreme violence like Columbine. However, over the past twelve years, landmark cases are being fought to address issues of egregious bullying both in person and through social media. As we consider the transition to using new media within the classrooms, I caution that we must first educate our students on their social responsibility as members of these online networks. We must teach students principles for engagement in these forms of media that can and should be applied within and outside the walls of the classroom. We must enlighten and expose students to the implications of over sharing information and posing as someone else. Equipping children with the knowledge they need to make conscientious choices about their online behavior and designing some sort of monitoring system (ideally peer-based) to negotiate and mediate on-line conflicts can provide students with an arsenal of tools and strategies to apply when navigating new media both inside and outside of the classroom.