Videos & Social Networking

The videos for this module had a variety of topics being discussed. The titles were: Le Book, Cyberbullying, and Social networking with special education students and tips.

The first video: Le Book was a French video which portrayed how someone reacts to something "new." Like many of us who are introduced to new things all the time, we can grasp certain things easier than others. We may not always like being forced to use for example, new software and by trying to figure it out we become frustrated. Just like the man in the video he was unsure and nervous to tackle the book, he was afraid he was going to loose the story if he turned the page and was unsure what would happen if he closed the book. I think this is a great example of how we all get and can see a little part of us in him. once you learn how to use the new software, or for his case open and close or turn the pages of the book, we become more comfortable and eager to proceed with exploring.

The next video: cyberbullying, is a serious case with many young children and teens today. although the video was animated with panda bears there is more behind this topic, a topic that harms and affects many people in the world today. And unfortunately does not always get resolved with a happy ending. Cyberbullying is a main cause for children and teens committing suicide today. Not to long ago I was watching a TV program on investigating the Internet and cyberspace with teens and older children (typically 8 and older) and many of the stories shared were about children being bullied through the Internet and becoming so frustrated they took their own life. Many of the parents were not aware since it had been going on on the computer and became aware of the cyber abuse after it was too late. The severity of the abuse ranges from being told you are "fat" to naming calling, such as "you're gay!" I think parents need to definitely become more active in their child's computer use and need to teach their children how to protect themselves from bullying going further. In the video they mentioned three great words to help stop or prevent this from happening: "STOP, BLOCK, and TELL!!!!"

Social networking is part of our daily lives and the computer. We are all aware of myspace, facebook, twitter, and blog pages, so it is no surprise when people talk about the "creeps" that are out there pretending to be people they truly are not. Teens these days are now making sure their web pages are set to private because of those individuals who's incentive is to cause harm, etc. Networking is a great way to get yourself out there, but it can also be dangerous. The teens in the video seemed very aware of who is out there and what could happen if they are not careful. Being able to have access to a computer and the technology is amazing as long as you know the do's and don't's. The teens expressed how many of them set their pages to private to secure that nobody other than those they know can access them or send them anything through mail or IM's, their parents seem to be very on top of what is going on, for example one boy said that he computer is placed in his living room where his family spends much of their time and his mom is always making sure he is not on bad websites or people are not bothering him. There are pros ands cons to everything and if you are caution there is no harm in trying new things out and there is definitely no harm in making sure your child is using the computer wisely and is not being bullied.