The Importance of New Media as a Literacy Practice: 2016

Sunday, November 6, 2016

How the Digital Age Has Changed Social Values

                                                    How the Digital Age Has Changed Social Values

Abstract:

      As a focus of this paper, I would like to explore how social media has transformed people’s perception of proper social interaction and etiquette. I became interested in studying more in depth about this topic the moment social media began. I was accustomed to interacting regularly with peers, and being able to interpret their perceptions and responses to the conversations based on nonverbal cues. We have degrees, such as Social Sciences and Communications, that are designed to help educate people about the many different aspects of human interaction. The program needs a complete transformation if it is going to remain as a viable choice for on-coming students.

     I stress the importance of face-to-face communication for many reasons, especially when it involves the millennial market. They are growing up in an era of infinite possibilities, and not all of them are aware of the power one holds with a mouse in their hand. With a decline in face-to-face communication, children have lost sight of how to solve problems and disagreements in person. Instead, cyberbullying has become a main issue as many children have a very small chance of standing up for themselves with countless followers all having the option of taking part in the disparagement. We now have a multiplying amount of online dating sights available, many of which are free. What is disconcerting about these, despite the fact they allow people to have access to millions of other singles within their area, is that profiles are not always factual. Any person can upload whichever picture they wish, giving ample opportunity to sex offenders and child molesters. Additionally, we have identity theft issues, where people can access your credit card information when online payments are performed with a chip. Schools have become more vigilant about safety with the growing prevalence of threats via social media, threats of terrorist attacks, and the fact that any person can learn to make a bomb by simply surfing the web. Many users have different opinions regarding whether the internet is an asset or serious concern. Through continuing research, we can give people an opportunity to make their own judgment in an unbiased manner.

Resources:

1. Hoffman, Jan. “Online Bullies Pull Schools into the Fray.” New York Times. June 27, 2010.
<www.nytimes.com>

     This article discusses how rampant cyberbullying is, and how difficult it is for educators and administrators to take action. Many schools have rules already instilled that children cannot be punished for actions taking place outside of school. With the physical location of the recipient and perpetrator not being a relevant part of the bullying, new rules have to be created. This has been a very pressing issue recently due to recent amount of adolescent suicides due to bullying. As many as one in five middle schoolers had been affected by cyberbullied.

2. O'Neill, Kathryn and Hiestand, Emily. “Journalism in a Digital Age.” MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. April 2, 2012.
<https://web.mit.edu>

     Journalism has recently had its defining moments with the Internet becoming a major provider of journalistic information. We have to admit that the Internet is not setting its own agenda and surreptitiously hiding newsworthy information, but the Internet has altered the traditional role of editors and journalists. The users have gained much more autonomy with the arrival of online sources. Users hold the power to filter through information until they come across the opinions or documentations that support their viewpoints. News publishers are under much more scrutiny since any information published can be re-checked by viewers. Archives are still openly accessible if information doesn’t “match up”. Additionally, Online journalism has found a new way to present itself through the advances of media: text, audio, video, and photographs.

3. Gregoire, Carolyn. “Heavy Social Media Use Linked With Mental Health Issues in Teens” The Huffington Post. July 27, 2015.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com>

     Excessive social media usage has been correlated with many major issues. But this article points directly at the psychological effects of extremely long periods of use. A new study done by Ottawa Public Health, found that students in grades 7-12 who use social media for more than two hours per day are significantly more likely to suffer from poor mental health, psychological distress and suicidal thoughts. Dr. Hughes Sampasa-Kayyinga, one of the lead facilitators of the study, found that in actuality the study is very complex. He noted in his findings that it could be partially due to the fact that teens with mental health issues are using the social media sites to reach out to more people and solve their feelings of aloneness and isolation. At this point, the best way to counteract the amount of Facebook use among students with mental disorders, is to use such venues as a platform for mental hygiene support.

4. Gardner, Amanda. “Psychologists Highlight Pitfalls of Online Dating.” CNN. February 6, 2012

     In this article, Gardner makes it clear that online dating can actually “sabotage” your chances of meeting the right person, if not used properly. In 1992, less than 1% of Americans actually met their significant other through alternative venues such as matchmaking services or personal ads. In 2009, with the Internet being utilized much more frequently, the percentage rose to 22% of heterosexual couples and 61% of homosexual couples. The problem with this rise is that people are spending much more time online when deciding which person to pursue, and less time “getting to know” a person. People are often much more critical of a person’s traits, as many dating sites have each member answer the same sequence of questions with very little opportunity to answer other imperative ones: are you friendly, how would you react if you found out the other person isn’t perfect, would the other person be caring and supportive if you were in need. We need to analyze fewer prospects less harshly, and find ways to meet up with people we find at public places after speaking briefly over the phone. When your only form of communication with this other person is via online messaging, having a comfortable flow to in-person conversations can be quite difficult.

5. Petrow, Steven. “Teen Sexting is Definitely a Problem, But a Felony?” USA TODAY. November 14, 2015.

     Teen sexting has become a major issue recently because of the conundrum that unfolds when police pursue such cases. Sexting is defined as the action of sending sexually explicit photos or messages to another individual, but the issue at hand is that if the photos are taken of a person below the age of 18, it is defined as child pornography. This redefinition of illicit pornography is taking form regardless of whether both people involved were below 18; and even a person consenting and sending pictures of themselves are guilty of distributing child pornography. The problem is not ceasing, since a recent Drexler University survey reveals that 54% of underage college students had sent sexually explicit photos while they were under the age of 18.

6. Wallace, Kelly. “Driving While Distracted: It’s Not Just Texting Anymore.” CNN. August 9,        2016.

     In this journal article, it becomes clear through an allotment of statistics that texting while driving a serious hazard concern. In 46 states and the District of Columbia, laws are in place that prohibit drivers from texting while driving. Every day, at least 8 people are killed and 1000 are injured due to distracted drivers. The effect social media has on drivers is hard to measure, since being “distracted” can also include texting, and eating while driving. According to a study of 2,500 high school students, done by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Students Against Destructive Drivers (SADD), nearly 70% admit using aps while driving. This staggering statistic may be partly due to the fact that only 6% of the students polled during the study, thought that posting and actively engaging in social media was the most distracting while driving.

7. Leitner, Tammy. “How Terrorists Recruit Teens Through Websites, Social Media.” NBCCHICAGO. February, 6, 2015.                                                                 <http://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/Terrorists-Recruit-Teenagers-Online-Through-Websites-              Social-Media-291010561.html>

     It has recently become a concern that terrorist organizations, such as Isis, have been using the Internet as a tool for recruiting young teens into their groups. Most teens targeted tend to come from broken homes, have begun questioning their identity, and are grappling with their religion. The most popular recruitment sites include Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, on which hashtags are displayed connecting many teens to public forums. Listed on the forums are information about how to create bombs, the benefits of joining the terrorist organizations, and videos portraying the new kind of life they will begin as a member. These sites are leading to many Westerners being recruited, with one example including Chicago-area teen Mohammed Hamza Khan and his 15-year-old brother and 17-year-old sister – who were stopped by Federal Agents before boarding a plane headed for Turkey.

How the Digital Age Has Changed Social Values

Sunday, October 16, 2016

International Effects

Week 5 Blog

While looking through the various discussions and articles that were presented this week, I felt that some were very puzzling and some were more enlightening. The video called “Network, Power, and Democracy, a presentation given by social scientist Saskia Sassen, was very lackadaisical from the beginning. The jargon used was unnecessarily complex, and she didn’t make it clear how any of her points could relate to our oncoming generation. One good point she made was how foreign investment in less developed countries can actually raise the likelihood of emigration; this went against established notions that such investment would retain potential emigrants. We constantly analyze how the digital age has divided younger people from earlier generation, as common values have started to change. We also talk about how powerful the internet can be as a tool to bringing together various cultures, classes, and generations, so we need to keep in mind how “disinterested” younger viewers are going to become when seeking out information that presents itself as unintelligible. It was an interesting post, but the speaker shouldn’t “wing” her presentations anymore.

The web blog by Raquel Recuero, “Digital Youth, Social Movements, and Democracy in Brazil”, went beyond commonplace speculation of emigrant behavior (at least in my mind) and was very “enlightening” with the specific examples it provided. I have been shocked by much of the information learned thus far about the age of new media and new literacy, but until now haven’t really been able to fathom the complexity and vastness of social media and entertainment gaming. According to the statistics Raquel Recuerdo presented, “Brazilian youth are becoming digital, 36 percent of Brazilians have a computer, 87 percent own a cell phone, 53 percent use the internet on a regular basis, and 70 percent of the population between 16 and 25 use the internet regularly.” [1]

Ms. Recuerdo delved deeper into the stronghold the internet has on Brazilian youth, and explained how 1000s are using popular sites such as Facebook, FOTOLog, Blogger, and Twitter to debate about issues facing their country. In the past six months, there has been a 50 percent increase in the amount of Facebook users, 53 million Brazilians now use it regularly. These staggering numbers set the stage in showing how the cultural dimension of literacy and technology has made itself clear. Brazilians are “using operational statistics to receive and transmit meaning.” [2] Their commonality in cultural values and beliefs helps them in understand the context and content of thoughts being posted in mass group settings. Cities are able to speak out about their own issues via mass media usage. Certain communities in Brazil are having major environmental problems, especially concerning their water supply. Through the use of social media, community supporters were able to remove 100 kilograms of trash from local rivers.

But with that in mind, many groups are using Facebook to help their own agenda as a generation gap is forming. We are fighting violence with violence since everyone is given the same tools. It is impossible to pose yourself as calm when intonation cannot be differentiated from person to person. Traditional media is losing ground. When considering the amount of technology people have access to, it becomes clear that people are becoming more critical of other users. According to W. Lance Bennett, author of “Changing Citizenship in Digital Age”, “unlike classic accounts of civil society in which social bonds strengthened political participation in the golden age of dutiful citizens, the separation of the social and the civic in the youth online world often seems stark.” [3] Many factors may affect the lack of civil engagement many young people show: a lack of education about civic engagement in schools, a lack of concern by politicians about the issues faced by younger generations, and more autonomy causing less concern about issues not pertaining to themselves. Facebook can only help in social movements if it used properly.

References

1. Saskia Sassen: Networks, Powers, and Democracy. https://www.youtube.com.

2. Raquel Recuero - Digital Youth, Social Movements, and Democracy in Brazil. http://connectedlearning.tv/raquel-recuero-digital-youth-social-movements-and-democracy-brazil

3. Bennett, W. Lance. “Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age." Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth.Edited by W. Lance Bennett. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. Pg. 11.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

EDU 681—New Media and New Literacies

Professor Diane Gal

Nicholas Moyer

The Importance of New Media as a Literacy Practice

It is just recently that the way literature is taught in the classroom has started to transform. It has manifested itself from a study of how to read, write, and speak eloquently, to analyzing and understanding concepts from a technology-based perspective. Media has arrived and is here to stay. The omnipresent nature of digital media has demonstrated how accessible and popular various media sources have become. It can be said that there are many different forms of “cultural discourse” in America. We need to recognize that and honor them. But when we text, respond to online messages, or write blogs via social media programs, we are really not taking the time to recognize and practice “Discourse” as a whole.

We need to accept the fact that the Internet has become a multifaceted entity; one that has led many people to replace reading books and learning about the world via newspaper articles. Motoko Rich, a New York Times author who wrote the article: “Literacy Debate: Online, RU Really Reading?”, spoke about the different viewpoints that people hold in regard to the benefits and deterrents that social media has brought us. Rich stated that, “since the invention of television, critics have warned that electronic media would destroy reading.” (Rich, M. (n.d.). Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?) That itself is a viable point. Can we really accept the idea that writing texts and reading information online are just as beneficial as reading books for pleasure?

Initially in Rich’s article, he describes a teenager, Nadia, who is addicted to the Internet. He describes in detail her dependence on the Internet for leisure and information, and how she spends over six hours online daily. Critics have argued that spending such a lengthy amount of time online can lead consumers to a weakened literacy, lowered attention span, and an inability to really understand cultural perspectives. Further into his article, he speaks about another Internet enthusiast, Zachary Simm, who enjoys reading regularly but feels the Internet is a better way to gain information quickly and from many different viewpoints. Zachary had been diagnosed as having dyslexia, and describes himself as being “much more comfortable” when he reads information online.

The National Endowment for Arts reported “flat or declining national reading test scores among teenagers with the slump in the proportion of adolescents who said they read for fun”. (Rich, M. (n.d.). Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?) This deterioration in reading enjoyment transcends to other statistical measurements as well. A study conducted by the Department of Education showed that between 1984 and 2004, the percentage of teenagers who claimed they rarely or never read increased from 9 percent to 19 percent. This is in concert with another study they led that showed the proportion of 17-year-olds who enjoy reading had declined from one-third to one-fifth. The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, David McCullough, stood on a similar plateau in regards to the fallacies orchestrated by media dependency. He described learning as being incapacitated without books being considered the primary source of information.

Web readers are also shown to be much more susceptible to being given and believing false information. Despite the fact that multiple sources of information become available via the Internet, is it realistic to say all those avenues contain valid, usable information? Donald J. Leu, a Professor at the University of Connecticut, conducted a study in which 48 students were asked to look at a Web image that showed a fabled animal known as a Northwest tree octopus. 90 percent of viewers thought it was real. To truly accept the oncoming outbreak of digital media and accept the multiple capacities the Internet provides us, we have to first develop the skills necessary to distinguish valid and invalid sources.

Proponents of the Internet being a new provider of learning experiences, can easily argue that living in such a technological world makes understanding Web sources a critical part of being able to coincide with the world. Teachers need to accept that in the near future, lessons will become much more technology-driven. The point can be made that participating in lessons on a computer device can allow children to extend their learning beyond the classroom. We need to recognize that “active citizenship is about believing in the concept of a democratic society and being willing and able to translate that belief into action” (Literacies: social, cultural and historical perspectives Colin Lanske-Michele Knobel-PeterLang-2011).

A study focusing on the standardized reading test scores of lower-income students was conducted by Linda Jackson, professor of psychology at Michigan State. It revealed that as the students were given access to the Internet, they actually showed a gross improvement in test scores and became more prepared as readers. This readiness shows once again that people may have different responses to information that they receive online. Your brain is very flexible, and can adjust to different venues rather quickly. Some neurologists may contend that one’s ability to focus is significantly lowered when someone is continuously exposed to Web devices, but does that guarantee learning will not continue. Even Zachary Sims, the teenager mentioned previously who is dyslexic and “craves” the Internet, still finds time to enjoy venerated books without losing interest halfway through. He made two very good point when discussing why he is so engulfed in Internet use. It is the availability of interaction that appeals to him the most. Seeing the opinions of many different people can help you gain a new perspective. Reading can only result in understanding your own perspective.

Integrating technology into the classroom, in a meaningful way, will take time. In my opinion, the first step schools need to take is to rethink curriculum goals. Despite the fact that I am not a very avid Internet user, it is irrational to believe that the Web and school are always going to remain as separate entities. It can be argued that it is not the inability of schools to find ways to implement media literacy, but rather their choice not to. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which carried out a set of core subject tests (reading, math, science) to a broad array of 15-year-old boys, seeks to add an electronic reading assessment to its lists of tests administered. Despite the fact that 50 countries were involved in this testing procedure, the United States chose to exclude themselves. That itself can be a subtle hint that the United States may be trying to continue their academic focuses and refrain from a new generational transformation.

As an educator, I make it my mission to provide my students with the most opportunities possible to extend and continue their learning. Though it is foolish to think I am their sole source of information. Children need to gain a sense of self-sufficiency if they are going to be successful later in life. It is irrational to believe all online tools and sites contain only factual information. Though the Internet does give children the opportunity to distinguish the difference themselves. It is the role of the teacher to help guide students in understanding the difference between right and wrong.