Journal #9-The Kids Are All Right

The importance of teachers finding out about the level of engagement that their students have in the online community is an important topic of discussion in this article. After extensive research that the MacArthur Foundation began over three years ago involving the technological cultures of today’s youth has some fascinating findings where social interaction is concerned. In this study, over 800 young people and their parents were interviewed and more than 5,000 hours of observation on websites such as MySpace and Facebook were logged. In this report the researchers found that there are 3 different type of online participation amongst teens. One was called “Hanging Out” and this was the casual online social place such as Facebook that kids had casual social interaction. The next was called “Messing Around” which is similar to the hanging out but with sometimes more specific interests in common that were discussed and shared. The third aspect was called “Geeking Out” and this is the area where teens had an intense interest shared with others who were not a part of their local and physical social circle. The subjects range from anything subject the teen was passionate about discussing. Through this study the findings were that 80-90% of teens were using some sort of media social tool and that it is important for parents and educators to meet the needs of the teen by relating to the new technological world.

Questions:
1. Should Middle school students be offered online social classes?
* Yes, because it is an important part of human development to have strong social skills. And not all pre-teens are comfortable with their physical appearance or behavior and can help them become more involved with others in the online world.
2. Should there be a time limit placed on teens when having media social interaction.
*Yes because they have to also learn to communicate with physical human beings that have facial, vocal and bodily emotions that a computer cannot elaborate. A well balanced amount of time to develop the child/teen is important.

Waters, John K. (march 1, 2009). The kids are all right. The Journal, 6, Retrieved march 2009, from http://www.thejournal.com/articles/24104