Technology and I

I remember the first computer I played on and that was at the tender age of 5 years. It was great fun! It was in my classroom at school and it was a clown game in which you had to count the custard pies which were then thrown in the clowns face! Brilliant! Since then I have been brought up with computers. They are no stranger to me which as Prensky (2001) states that would make me a 'digital native'. "Our students today are all “native speakers” of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet." (Prensky, 2001, p.1) When I went to college aged 16 I was in a mixed aged class, one of my close friends was 22. When doing assignments on the computer she struggled immensely, she did not know how to use a USB memory stick, she struggled to find the correct options and functions. It amazed me that with just a 6 year age gap that someone could be so far behind in technology. Again this happened at university, with an age gap of 8 years between my close friend I found that we were brought up in a totally different non-digital/digital world. I just presume people can use a computer, another example is my parents, oh the frustration I go through with them! (No offence mum and dad) Although I have to admit they are so much better now, mum even has a Facebook page!

Growing up with an easy access to the internet allowed me to use the social networking sites. I started with a Myspace, then Bebo and now I have Facebook. These sites allowed me to interact with my friends and comment on their pictures and activities. It also allowed to to connect with people from different countries. I was sensible and never gave my address and phone numbers to people, but it makes me wonder how many young children to this. You hear stories about young girls going to meet their internet 'friend', it is scary. In week 2 of E-Learning there is a section about child safety on the net. This is vital!! Especially today when it is so, so simple to create a false identity and access people's personal profiles. In the section it takes about inappropriate material for children but we should also think about the young children who are putting pictures of themselves onto these sites. We have all taken a picture of ourselves posing and used it as a profile picture. But young girls are constantly posing often inappropriately for their age, to gain attention from friends and strangers. I sometimes view this as them being insecure and need the attention and evidence of people saying positive things. Or they are just flaunting themselves and crave the attention. Cyber safety should be so much bigger than it is. The social networking site Facebook is monitored greatly for inappropriate materials, and as a user of the site you can report negative pages and images. This is great, it needs to happen a lot more. As a future teacher I will ensure that my students are given the skills and knowledge to be safe users on the internet. Although I am aiming to teach prep or year 1, they still need to learn certain rules.

References

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. Retrieved March 18, 2010, from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf