Week 3: Teacher vs. Technology

I am someone that regularly uses social media and technology. I check Tik Tok in my free time, I use Facebook to keep in touch with family, and I find recipes on Pinterest. Social media is a regular part of my life and I used to feel like that was something to be ashamed of until I heard Jesse Miller speak. In his talk, Jesse explained how technology has kept us evolving and we have evolved to a point where it is now normal to have content online. Which means for children growing up in this age, their comfort with an online presence is going to grow with them. For myself as a teacher, all that social media usage that I feel so bad about, is only going to help me educate my students on digital citizenship.

While I am not a parent yet, I have four younger siblings who I feel more like a parent to than a big sister. They are part of the generation that is growing up with technology and that is something that has always scared me. They play Roblox and Minecraft with random people online or watch youtubers game on kids YouTube. They are not even teenagers yet and they interact with more people online in a week then I do in a month. With this experience I can understand where my students’ parents may be coming from if they don’t want them on a teacher Instagram or twitter account. Parents do not want to subject their children to danger. Not to mention, for at least the last two generations people have been taught to fear the internet more than being taught how to manage it. Hence, why I would I feel so bad about my technology and social media usage.

But from the teacher point of view, I can see how valuable the use of technology could be in the classroom. Looking to back to the documentary Most Likely to Succeed and High Tech High. Their entire school system was built on integrating technology into everyday subjects. I wonder if they received the same number of technology concerns that teachers in Canada are receiving? I think Jesse explained it perfectly when he said “the internet isn’t full of bad people, but some people do use it to cause harm”. The important lesson for all internet users is to set expectations that you will likely come across someone or something suspicious online, and then teach them how to deal with that situation. As teachers, we need to be comfortable with educating our students on the proper ways to use technology and social media. And make sure they understand that they have choice in how and with whom they interact and can set boundaries for when they access technology based on their own needs.

There is no doubt that technology and the online world are here to stay. Similarly, society is going to continue to evolve technology and evolve with technology. So as we teach the younger generation how to BE online, we have a choice to make. Either we install fear and shame the way my generations’ parents did or we install knowledge and awareness to create a more successful and respectful online generation.