domingo, 1 de diciembre de 2013

Social networking sites

Hi partners!

Today I would like to talk about a daily topic which affects extraordinarily children: social networking sites. If people use them in the correct way, there should not be any problem but most of kids do not do a proper use of social networking sites. So I am going to talk about the importance of this topic in children’s daily life, and how they impact on their studies.

First of all, more and more children are using social networking sites. This is not the most important problem but they are younger and younger, and we do not know where the limit is. Moreover, some adults are taking advantage of this situation and a new risk –called grooming- is appearing, in which an adult gains child’s confidence with a sexual purpose; and many children do not know how to solve this kind of problems. Then, there are more risks such as sexting –to share photos or videos with erotic content between young people who are extorted causing significant psychological harm- or the ciberbullying -the harassment between children on the Internet which involves a reach that can generate also much damage even relatives and friends-.

In addition, they also influence on children’s studies because social networking sites interrupt them to go on studying or doing the homework, usually they are looking at their mobile phone because they need to know their friends constantly, and they cannot concentrate. In this sense, many children are starting to have misspellings because of the language they use in social networking sites, and for this reason they sometimes do not know how to write some words or doing it in a wrong way unconsciously.

Another important point to bear in mind is the new ways of relationship among children, because it seems like if they live in a virtual world and it causes that some of them have a split personality. Most of kids are very brave when chatting with other children by social networking sites but they are completely different if they do it face to face. Some of them seem to have missed the social competence and it is unfortunate.

To sum up, I would like to add that some of the children who send photos among themselves then they can have big problems because the photos go on being uploaded in spite of having been deleted. In this sense data protection law can be vulnerable and children should realize of it.

In my opinion, social networking sites are not harmful for adults but they are very dangerous for children, because they are not prepared for them. Furthermore, they are very addictive and we should solve this kind of problems


which can have irreparable consequences. Finally I just want to stand out the idea of living in a virtual word, because from my point of view it is a shame to see how children are carrying out their relationships.

See you soon, 

4 comentarios:

  1. Dear Miguel,

    I have just discovered your blog and I have no words to describe it! Why? For different reasons that I am going to share with you. 

    First of all, I love how you reflect about the main important aspects that could affect children. According to this topic, I really like your reflection and the opportunity to think about how technology can affect students since they are very small. This way, you start saying the problem related to virtual friendship. It is not only about the danger in having virtual conversations but also, who you speak to. I don´t know about you but this aspect scares me a lot. Although we can control our children at home or in the school, the majority of the time it is imposible to know who is in the other part of the net.


    You also point out this aspect may influence in their students. I completely agree with you for many reasons. The first one could be related to my own experience. I still remember that my brother wished to play with the computer instead of finishing his homework. Something which, at the first view you can consider it is normal but, I would like to highlight here, the dependency on technology. 


    Taking into account your post, another point to consider is about the personality we can develop when we chat. Little by little, it is more frequent listening about problems that kids have through internet. In fact, I do know I you have listened about a tragic new that happened some years ago in Brazil. Everything started through a internet game where children had to compete among them. One of them hated to lose and started writing to the child saying with all type of threats until he took the law into one´s own hands. And what about sending pictures? I have no words.

    To end with the post, I would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to reflect about such interesting topics you have written here. 

    Great work, Miguel! I will read you in the following one! Have a great week,

    Rebeca

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  2. Hello Miguel!

    Technological use in children brings a newly topic in our society. As future teachers, we should keep in mind because whether we joined or not, this social media is going to continue being popular. As you have evidenced, this innovation has a dark side, however we could find some benefits.

    Disadvantages appear as an important fact in the technological landscape. Isolated children because of the missed social competence might not have discussion. Several analyses can support your information. Increased media exposure can be associated with violent behavior and loneliness. Violent shows could develop aggressive behavior, but also students can have fewer friends and be more secluded socially. Moreover, grooming or the videos and photos exchange can deal with anxiety, or the well-known Facebook depression. Chatting addiction offers a range of unhealthy behaviors.

    Teachers, parents and community should promote the social media advantages. Technology will help those students who experience shyness or social anxiety. They can gain comfort and confident in social interactions by media. Furthermore, family relations can increase by appearing as a connector of the child’s life. Finally, educational benefits can be presented, as the practical skills, creativity ability or the appreciation of different and new perspectives.

    Education has the key to solve this problem. Students need to be conscious of the troubles that deal with the media and understand the benefits that they can obtain from it. This topic seems considerable interesting and should be taken care in daily life.

    Thanks for this great post,
    Cristina

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  3. Hello Miguel!
    I just read your post and has seemed to me a fantastic and very informative notice, because social networks and their consequences is a problem that is very popular in our society and that gives much to talk about.
    Regarding all the information that you give in your post, I absolutely agree, because lately social networks are being the goal of many abusers to carry out threats against people, and many of them are younger.

    In my opinion, I think the social networks if they are used responsibly and appropriately, not have any problems to society. However, if social networks become an addiction and use uncontrolled, can lead to dangerous situations, and especially if the people who use them are younger.
    In this case, parents of children or those responsible for them if they are younger, should control this type of "hobbies" on the Internet, establishing a set of guidelines such as, the time that they are connected by the Internet, people who they speak and restrictions on some websites. Some of these aspects are very difficult to control by parents, in this way they should have frequent communications with the children to be more closely controlling these situations.

    As you have said, the consequences of incorrect use of social networks are many, including: grooming, cyberbullying, etc. But there are also others that produced on a long-term like: anxiety, isolation and depression by the addict.
    In addition, I think one of the reasons why social networks are so popular among teenagers is because they allow them to shy people relate more easily and meet new people.

    Finally, I think the solutions might be raised to try to solve or reduce these social problems, could be for example: try to make the students aware of the dangers that may have an inappropriate use of these social networks, through informative sessions on schools and institutes, or try to put more restrictions on access to these websites.

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