The Real Truth About Teens and Online Social Networks
Posted by arvind s grover Thu, 17 May 2007 03:06:32 GMT
For the past few years I have been educating students, teachers, administrators and parents about the “realities” of online social networks (Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, etc). For the past few years, I have been wrong. Well, somewhat wrong, anyway. At the encouragement of law enforcement, the media, and other responsible adults, I have feared for the safety of the young women I educate. I was concerned that the details they were sharing online put them at risk for predation and victimization. My main concern was never really their physical safety, as that was such a minute possibility. I was mainly concerned about their futures, their college admissions, their job opportunities, but mainly, the possible humiliation they faced by the wrong people viewing their profiles. In that way, I was right.
Last week, before Congress, the four foremost experts in the country testified to the reality of online youth victimization. Every law enforcement person I’ve heard, and most educators I’ve heard have been wrong. The truth, according to the experts: 1) teens who post information online are no more likely to be victims of sex crimes than those who don’t 2) of all the statuatory rape in the U.S. last year, 7% of victims met the perpetrators online, the rest offline 3) parent education does not work.
There are many more important facts pointed out, so watch the hour and twenty minute testimony. It is the most important professional development I have had in the last few years. I can’t recommend it any more strongly. Original video here, transcript here, or YouTube video below. A post to follow will be on what type of education we need to do for/with our students. Your suggestions would be much appreciated.
technorati tags:MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Bebo, safety, online, education, students, teachers, parents, danah boyd, David Finkelhor, Michele Ybarra, Amanda Lenhart, Tim Lordan, Congress, victimization, myths
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From Suzanne's blog
Online Social Networks
<a href=”http://www.21apples.org/articles/2007/05/16/the-real-truth-about-teens-and-online-social-networks”> Arvind Grover</a> talks about this new(old) phenomenon of social networking which is something that really interests me...
Interesting. Good to know the stats.
In my opinion, peer education is the most effective strategy for influencing student behavior. Students tend to respond more positively to their peers’ experiences, and friends are more effective at helping students in their moment of trouble than anyone else.
Richard, they raised the point that a whole new, youth-focused curriculum needed to be developed. I am all for peer-based ed, but how do we ensure that the peers are encouraging the appropriate behavior, or that they even know what that is?
Thanks for posting about this arvind.
Even with the evidence, I still find it hard to engage others in this discussion or, at least, to turn it around from the “fear-based” approach that many educators and parents want to take. I don’t know if it’s the media who initiates this, as many would like to believe. It does seem to be some kind of need to find a scapegoat and these days, it’s easy to point to the internet and sites like MySpace as the source of all that’s evil.
It’s hard to find the right curriculum and method to address this. I think the best solutions are rooted in particular contexts and are local. The moment we try to universalize a method or curriculum, I think it loses it’s ability to make a significant impact.
Open dialogue amongst kids, educators, parents, administrators, etc. is also key. I think blogs, wikis, podcasts are tools that are allowing for such transparency to take place and are helping to overcome the lies and myths.