Week 4 - Blog - Did you just Tweet the YouTube video from Facebook of the clip from XBox Live? Two words, Digital Nation

Two documentaries to compare and contrast: Growing Up Online Digital_Nation 1.  Compare and Contrast each documentary.  What has changed from the first one (Growing Up Online) made in 2008 to the newer one (Digital Nation) filmed in 2010?  How did what you watched in the two videos support your feelings about technology or how did it change your views?   There was definitely a shift in peoples perspectives of technology between the two documentaries, including my own. My feeling regarding technology changed several times because there was so much information to absorb that was both positive and negative. I'm not sure I still even have an answer.  I think a large change that took place between the two short films was that in Growing Up Online, it was more focused on the internet as this foreign being. Anne Collier even referred to it as the Wild Wild West, a new frontier that was just being explored. In Digital_Nation, it appeared that not only had the internet and technology been explored, but also its clear people had tried to harness it to engage children in learning. I also thought it was interesting to see how much has changed in such a short amount of time to the present. I even mean the little things, such as MySpace being a hot topic, or xanga. These are now dated social networking sites.  2.  Your thoughts on multitasking.  Do you agree?  Can you multitask?  Do you disagree with the video on the topic of multitasking?  I agree with the video that people can not multitask as well as they think they can, I know I can't. Students were insistent that they could do multiple, different things all at once. However, Clifford Nass illustrated in his study that it is clinically proven that we can not do two things at once, at least effectively. His results showed that the brain moved slower when switching around to different tasks as opposed to consistently working on something. Which is logical because how is a student supposed to know what a teacher has said if their mind is working on writing an email to someone else? They can't absorb both pieces of information, so one gets lost in translation. 3.  Is there an addiction happening in society today with technology or is it just a new way of living?   Should we be concerned?  I do think there is an addiction happening in society today with technology. In Growing Up Online, a student, Greg, confessed that he can't shut down. His parents even agreed that they have a better chance getting a response if they emailed him rather than going upstairs to ask him a question. He was a perfect example of how every student they spoke to seemed to constantly be checking their computer or phone. We should be concerned for numerous reasons. It's concerning that Greg confessed he doesn't have time to read so he (along with many other students) go on SparkNotes and have their assigned reading done in five minutes. What worries me about this is that students can't even finish one novel, and also that they feel that they don't have enough time. Being constantly connected and stimulated, they are left feeling that they do not have enough time for anything else, which is very sad and it needs to change.  4.  Do video games serve a purpose in education or are they a waste of time?  I do think video games serve a purpose in education, but in the right context. I don't think they should be a main tool in teaching. I think they could be used it a constructive way to use any 'free time' a student has if they are done all of their work. Something to occupy the student, while still providing some sort of learning, even in a game format. (Source)      5.  Do you believe that digital tools such as google tools can save schools that are struggling? I think any any digital tools can help save schools that are struggling. Mostly because if people feel so strongly about getting new technology into classrooms to help students learn, then its their passion that will help them succeed. As long as we are all trying to help schools and students flourish then that is half of the battle. An example is in Digital_Nation when they focused on a new principal, Jason Levy, who provided all the students with laptops. Even though this was a school in the Bronx that had problems with gangs and only 9 percent of students meeting state standards in math, the introduction of technology made a huge impact. Attendance went up 90 percent, and their state standards in math went up almost 40 percent (and 30 percent in reading). These figures support that digital tools can truly help.  6.  Do parents of today have any idea what their kids are doing online?  Whose job is it to teach them the safety and digital responsibility? Parents/Teachers/Community/Government? I think parents have a better idea of what their kids are doing online than in the past. Even if they aren't as technologically advanced, they can still turn on the news and watch a segment, open a magazine and read an article, or even go to the movies and see The Social Network to obtain some sort of information of what is going on currently. Which is a good start, but there needs to be a large effort by parents to understand safety and digital responsibility so they can, in turn, teach it to their children. That combined with the efforts of teachers while the children are at school, and they should become very responsible Digital Citizens. (Source)    7.  Are kids and adults today ruining their digital footprints by sharing too much information online without realizing that it may be detrimental to their future? Should they care?  I think that many are still ruining their digital footprints because they were not educated in Digital Citizenship. This is why it is crucial that kids (and adults) learn how to be responsible when it comes to the internet. A personal example would be when I got a Facebook page. When I signed up for it, I had to have a college email address because it was a network only for college students to interact. Since it was still relatively new, everyone posted whatever they wanted in regards to ridiculous status updates to embarrassing photos for everyone to see. Flash forward 7 years and most people who graduated in my undergraduate class have careers now. A large number of them have made their profiles private, deleted a lot of the content, or even have deleted their Facebook page altogether. Everyone should care what they post online because it truly is a footprint and will stay there.   8.“Stranger Danger” and predator fears are often overblown by the media on shows such as Datelines “To Catch a Predator”.  What are the real dangers of technology in this day and age?   (Source) I think the real dangers in this day and age are not the supposed billions of predators lurking the internet, it is the internet and technology itself. It all goes back to Digital Citizenship and gaining knowledge, but I admit, some of the studies in Digital_Nation concerned me. An example is when in the documentary, Gary Small is showing what brain activity looks like reading a book (left) versus doing a Google search (right). (Source)  While the Google search actually shows more brain activity, it is not necessarily a good thing. It's more instant gratification for the brain, rather than a slow linear thought. Another example is even while watching the two documentaries I checked my phone a few times for texts or emails, and then I would see that being discussed in the films. It was sort of an "Oh No" moment. Overall, watching both of these documentaries definitely had me reevaluating my own interactions with technology.