Podcast Reflection #3: Facebook Talk

Kevin Honeycutt has a podcast series called Driving Questions 2010 which can be found through his personal website as well iTunes. The specific podcast I chose to listen to was Facebook Talk, which I found especially interesting as the use of social media continues to rise. In this chat, Kevin and his colleagues discuss the ramifications of bullying through social media, which happens all too frequently today. In order to combat the effects of this activity, they discussed the importance for children to take the high road and form advocacy groups in order to counteract the bullying. While this is a great suggestion, it concerns me in the fact that it draws more attention to the negative behavior and can lead to further consequences socially for the child experiencing problems. After considering how often cyber-bullying occurs, Kevin and his colleagues began to consider whether it is appropriate for young children to be able to participate in social networks. While I do not know the answer to this question, I believe it is something that needs to be deeply considered as the age of children joining networks decreases. Yes, social networks are a great way for kids to connect with each other. However, at such a young age I do not believe children fully understand the ramifications of making their lives so public. Therefore, it is important students are educated about appropriate use of social media before they are given full privileges to use these tools. Also, it is equally important for responsible adults to be involved in monitoring the child's online activity every step of the way.