Is it possible that the web can create Youth as E-Citizens? and Should it?
As I am currently in Florida for our Spring Break, I actually took a few minutes by the pool to glance at reading material other than class readings or for my work.
I chanced upon an article in Oprah Magazine’s April issue about how we can make the world a better place. Most all of the professionals quoted focused on local efforts, and even reduced the effort to small acts within our own sphere of family, friends, and passersby. In other words, start making the world better by responding in our community.
I quote here Lynn Nottage, an award winning playwright, who gave me cause to think about youth and our current reading about Youth websites geared toward society involvement. Ms. Nottage says:
“Our culture has vastly overvalued the lives of the rich and famous. Our children no longer hunger to be good citizens, but merely well-known ones. In our misguided quest for heroes, we’ve made fame the most coveted virtue.”
She goes on to say that if we continue to idolize celebrity and movie stars that don’t do anything heroic, it dilutes our culture of real meaning. I completely agree with her suggestion that we “ boycott celebrity and celebrate the unnamed warriors trying to make a positive impact on our daily lives.”
While I agree, how do we steer today’s youth away from this image obsessed, flash-is-best type of mentality? This is difficult because so many adults subscribe to this as well.
The civic minded websites have a huge competition on their hands to get kids away from games, and fan sites, music and IMing friends. These civic sites may be great for teachers and scouting organizations, but I doubt that kids will get involved on their own without facilitation.
Is an online community where people are faceless the type of involvement that our young people need at their age? I do have concerns as it states on page 8 that such involvement provides only a “sense” of community, and not the real thing. Is it overwhelming to make our kids think that they must work on problems in Rwanda when they could be involved here at home physically at a local food bank or Senior Center or homeless shelter?
Is it overwhelming to offer kids a plethora of choices to get involved? As an adult, I am often indecisive and depressed about the condition of lives across the world, the wolf population, extinct species, and genocide. I could more easily impact the world if I got off the computer and walked down the street to help a neighbor or some other act. Looking at YouthNoise.com for example, the choices are endless in which to help in the world.
I think it is wonderful for children to become engaged and get involved, and at the same time, I think too much exposure to all that is wrong with the world is the reason there are so many young people on Prozac.
Any comments?
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4 comments:
Your post makes me look forward to the readings we have this week on youth and citizenship online more...
From my own perspective, I would never call my online communities "faceless" - I may not be using them the way kids do, but the majority of the people I connect with through these groups are people I already know in real life - definitely true connections - or people I can get to know better this way than I otherwise would.
For people I didn't begin by knowing them "face to face" I find that I can get to know them better through the online forums than I could in other ways because right now there are time/space limitations on our "connection" - LEEP classes, professional networking, political interests, etc.
For instance, if I get involved in a political group through facebook, and become "friends" with people I meet in a group, I can (depending on each person's privacy settins) see photos of them goofing off with friends, find out what their favorite books are, see if we know the same people, etc.
Connecting with people on these sites is kind of like a cross between a first date and sitting down with their friends as they show you a scrapbook of their lives. With privacy controls on these sites, you often can't see in unless they're willing to "connect" to you, but you can see snapshots of so many different parts of their lives once you are "let in."
Sure, it isn't the same as really knowing someone, but it's a lot more truly social than something like our Moodle profiles & posts. Of course each person still controls what information they put up. But it's a lot more contextualized, I guess is what I wanted to say. Not faceless. :)
I agree that online communities aren't really "faceless," especially when young people are involved. In my experience, if a young person is internet-savvy enough to be involved in an online community, they almost definitely have a MySpace and/or Facebook account, where they post pictures and often videos of themselves. Between vlogs, skype, and camwhoring, youth in online communities possibly have more visual connection with their peers there than they would if they were meeting in person for an hour a week.
"Is it overwhelming to offer kids a plethora of choices to get involved?"
I know that when I was younger, I'd be much more likely to take action on something if I had a few very accessible choices. More than that though, the number one thing that would drive me to get involved would be peer support. If my friends were doing it with me, it was much more fun.
But a person can be faceless on the internet if they choose to be. The interenet offers a person greater anonimity, if so desired, than face to face contact.
In my Latin Am Lib. class we read a paper in which Molly Molloy (New Mex St Univ.)stated, "the internet can create communities of affinity without geographic limitations." This is one of the marvelous aspects of it. The potential for creating communities is amazing. ANd with all the tools out there these communities can take many shapes or choose between many faces.
I do agree that the amount of information available can be overwhelming,especially to younger youth. I myself pretty much quit watching and paying close attention to the news about 3 three ago because it overwhelms me. Getting involved locally can be beneficial to youth and can help them feel that they really affect change. The internet can hold invaluable information on how to get a volunteer program or project going. If a youth is interested in particular cause that is not being addressed in their particular area, exploring that on the web is a great option. And a youth who becomes involved may find that that volunteerism leads on to larger venues; venues that the net can provide access too.
I think you're right that too much information can lead to anxiety, especially if it is accessed before a person is prepared to handle it.
And yes celebrities are the false gods of today! (Except George Clooney - He's a real one!)
between my typos and bad spelling - i'm hopeless - anonymity
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