Will Richardson

Speaker, consultant, writer, learner, parent

Here We Go Again

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Since I can, I’m embedding the trailer for the Frontline presentation of “Growing Up Online” which airs tomorrow at 9 EST on PBS channels everywhere. This looks like another of those “Be vewwy afwaid” moments in the annals of kids and the Internet. Joy.

Again, I think danah boyd says it right:

“You have a generation faced with a society with fundamentally different properties thanks to the Internet,” says Danah Boyd, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. “We can turn our backs and say, ‘This is bad,’ or, ‘We don’t want a world like this.’ It’s not going away. So instead of saying that this is terrible, instead of saying, ‘Stop MySpace; stop Facebook; stop the Internet,’ it’s a question for us of how we teach ourselves and our children to live in a society where these properties are fundamentally a way of life. This is public life today.”

Amen.

BTW, we need our own trailer…

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Comments

  3. Arthus Erea says

    I am sick of the alarmist mentality the media and government takes upon the use of the internet by students. When this is the kind of stuff parents hear about the internet, no wonder it is hard to affect technological change in schools.

  4. a. woody delauder says

    Arthus,
    You couldn’t have said it any better. I recently took a poll in all of my 5th grade classes. Most of my students do not use the internet except for in my class. I asked them… What are the reasons you do not use the internet at home. Their responses ranges from…

    1. I fear child predators (they mentioned the show “To Catch a Predator”)
    2. My parents don’t let me
    3. I don’t have the internet.
    4. I don’t have much time.

    These responses are in the order of frequency. About 70% of the students actually feared a child predator. Man do we have a lot of work to do!!!

  5. Eileen says

    We learned how to use fire without getting burned every single time we use it. We learned how to avoid the “dangers of cable television” haven’t we? We can learn how to use the internet intelligently and safely. Maybe we won’t be perfect 100% of the time. But what will we miss if we don’t use the good it can provide?

  6. Michelle Krill says

    I’m not sure if I’ll watch the episode even though my DVR is set to record it. I feel I better tune in so I’m prepared to face the ‘I told you so’ comments I’m sure to run into when I get to school after it airs. I found Anastasia Goodstein’s review of the show interesting at http://tinyurl.com/2db3z4. Even though she was interviewed ahead of time, it seems the creators stuck with the theme that will get the most viewers.

  7. Steve says

    I was interviewed for this film and am beginning to regret it. It seems as if the film will focus mostly on the scary side of the internet, and its value for education will be dismissed as merely a vehicle for a faster version of cliff notes.

    It’s sort of like discussing a field trip to New York City with parents. Are you going to highlight crime and the red light district or are you going to discuss the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Carnegie Hall?

    Well we all know what sells, and PBS is not immune. And like those clips provided to corporate sponsors that are now long enough to be considered commercials, this is just another way in which PBS is not much different than commercial media.

    I still have my fingers crossed, but this film may leave us with more barricades to break down.

    • Beth Carls says

      Steve, alas the dark side of media. We enjoy it when it accurately promotes our views. However, there is the other side as you have described that is not immune to trying to create a product that sells. I understand your pain. I’ve been there as well.

      Without seeing the piece yet, I would encourage us all to do what we can to communicate the positive side of the Internet and social networks. To help educate kids to the positive ways to use such awesome tools.

      Those who choose to only talk about the negatives are those who are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the true nature of the Internet.

  8. Amy Strecker says

    I’ll be interested to see what the final product looks like. From watching the trailer, it’s disappointing that PBS doesn’t seem interested in balancing a few online horror stories with coverage of all the excellent ways online technology is being used.

  9. joseph A. Putrino, Jr. says

    Hey Will,

    I watched this last night and I can honestly say that in this country we try to steer the audience. You would have thought there was an Internet Boggieman who lives in the computer and is looking for our children.

    I have always felt as an educator we need to guide through understanding and inspiration and not by fear! I can say that I’m truly afraid of Americans! Check out the blog I posted in reaction to “Growing Up Online”

    http://nlcommunities.com/communities/putrino/default.aspx

    Thanks for the heads up.