What's considered private these days? Good question. I've noticed with my students that their definition of private is completely different from my generation's definition; I'm also noticing that it deals with their definition of respect too. For those you know me, that's all I talk about when you ask me about my students, the lack of respect that they show (honestly, it's the age, I know).
But all complaining aside, I honestly think privacy is a serious issue that needs to be taught these days. Sure, the argument used to be it's the parents' responsibility, and I believe that it still should be. However, the technology jumping leaps and bounds these days makes it hard for parents to keep up with their kids. No offense to my mother but I still need to show her how to work her digital camera some days, let alone Twitter or Facebook, or using both. Granted, the parents of my students are in fact younger than my mother, but still; what's next?
With that said, these kids are going onto the Internet and taking EVERYTHING they see at face value. They're going to be faced with making new friends in high school, and "friending" (in quotes for the computer-illiterate) kids they see once a day in their biology class, or friending kids who are in the same school as they, or friends of friends, friending for the sake of getting the most friends on Facebook---see where I'm going with this? I've done it myself (friending people from SJC just for the sheer fact of we both went to the same school); what stops them from doing the same?
The next thing you'll say is that Facebook and Twitter have privacy settings and it's easy to monitor who is looking at your profile. News flash: You need to be introduced to those privacy settings to enact them, and a Facebook stalker has ways around the settings. Plus, if you want everyone to see your pictures or see your info and you trust that no one's going to use it to their advantage, that choice is available to you.
I'm not even going into identity theft.
What should be private then? What should someone reveal on their Twitter? How do you know where to draw the line?
That's where my project idea comes in: I am teaching a lesson to seventh and eighth graders on social network privacy, and I need some help with that. I've decided that in order to really show how to protect themselves, that I needed to actually use Facebook. I'm not using my profile just as a heads up, I'm using hers. She's fake. It's really me, but I wanted to make up something ligit. I need for her to actually look like she's alive, and in order to do that, I need for her to have friends. Use the page to "invite" her to Mafia Wars or something...(Mafia Wars? Did I really just say that? Who plays that anymore?). I just need her to have friends who post something on her wall; preferrably a bit sketchy things too, but nothing completely red flag.
I'll be doing the lesson on June 20th, and I am going to be deleting the page after that, so don't worry about little eighth graders trying to stalk you or pester you. And I understand if you don't want to at all, and don't agree with what I'm doing. I'll make it work...trust me.
All I want to do is really teach these kids to protect themselves online. Some things yes, parents should teach, but some of these kids don't have that, and I don't want to let them go to high school without someone stepping up to show them how to stay safe.
I'm crazy....I know...totally nuts for doing this.
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