I found this presentation very interesting. I loved how the author, Kristen Purcell, compared herself to her niece at the beginning of the presentation. Even though she is about 14 years older than me, I felt like the technology that she grew up with related closely to my experience growing up. Specifically, having a land line phone, using a payphone to call home, owning a VCR...these are all things that I had as well. I remember finding it exciting to leave fun messages on the answering machine so people could hear them when they called. Using a type writer to submit assignments early in my education and taking typing classes in high school were also things that I related to. Using the library books in school to conduct research hit home as well...my how technology has changed in such a short time!
When she compared these memories with her niece, a graduating high school senior, I realized just how far technology has come so quickly. Holly, the niece, owned a cell phone at age 10! What?! I was not shocked to learn that 78% of teens (12-17) own a cell phone, that they submit their homework online, or that 82% of them are on social networking sites. But goodness the difference in less than two decades!
Kristen organized the rest of her presentation by listing 10 important facts about teen technology use. I was not shocked to read that Facebook membership is declining among teens and Twitter is increasing. I have been on Facebook for about 10 years, and I can definitely see the difference in users over the years. More of my mom's friends are on Facebook now than my niece's friends, for sure! I also wasn't surprised that teens are so willing to share personal information online, however, the personal information that they do share DID surprise me...photos and school name I expected, but not email address and phone number. How scary that this information is thrown around online with millions of viewers. I was glad to see that 60% of teens keep their Facebook privacy setting at fully private, but the fact that Twitter is 64% public for teens scares me. I know that more teens are moving to Twitter and leaving Facebook, so this means that their "private" information is becoming much more easily accessible.
I found it interesting that teens take steps to manage their online reputations. From the posts that I see from the students (from my church youth group) that are on my Facebook friend list, I feel like reputation is the furthest from their minds. I was relieved to see that teens do regret things that they post and that they edit and delete posts after they feel that regret! Untagging pictures is a huge point as well...but I do wonder if most of this untagging and deleting comes from the influence or focefulness of parents. I did notice that mostly girls block people or unfriend people. That also made me think..is this primarily to protect their reputation or is it an aftermath of girl drama? I lean towards the latter.
Another point that caught my attention was the use of technology in the educational environments of teens. I was glad to see that over 95% of teachers use projectors hooked to laptops and computer workstations in their classroom. Computers are necessary for this generation past public education, so the fact that almost 100% of students are actively using the Internet and computers is comforting. I was not at all shocked to read that Internet is used in schools to research, get assignments, and submit assignments. I did find it interesting the ties between today's research and this generation's access to the Internet. I am glad that 77% of teachers say that the Internet has had a positive impact on research. Teens have access to materials that was long unattainable, and ironically they think it is easy to find. Something we may have looked for weeks for in our school or public library, a teen today can find in minutes...or even seconds! I do agree, however, that teaching teens to find and use CREDIBLE sources is a big challenge. The discussion on today's technology and how it effects writing was very interesting to me as well. The fact that teens can write to such a broad audience on social media sites and that feedback is so readily available, allows teens to really be creative and show their emotion and express their ideas more easily. I agree with the downfalls though...grammar and spelling have gone out the door! Of course, I see this with myself as well. Spell check and auto-correct have made writing so much different than it was even 10 years ago. I remember hand writing all of my papers (rough and final drafts) and then typing them to hand in to my teachers. There was no writing directly on the computer. Now, it would be looked at as strange to put pen to paper before typing an essay. Because of this, grammar and spelling skills are dull...why work on that when the computer will fix it for you?! As a result, we have a generation that appears uneducated in their writing, even though they are far from uneducated.
One last thing that I found interesting in this article was Kristen's last point that the divide between low and high income families is getting bigger and bigger as more technology is implemented in the educational systems. Schools, districts, and families that can afford all of the amazing digital tools are offering these tools to their students who are using them and soaring. However, schools and families that cannot afford these tools for their students are falling more and more behind every day. This digital divide will continue to grow, and unfortunately, it will also be evident as these students apply to and get accepted into colleges, get jobs, etc. The question is, what can be done to close in this gap and allow the lower income students the same access to digital tools that others have?
This presentation was very informative and fun to read. I like comparing the generations and seeing how far technology has come in just the three decades that I have been around! It makes me wonder what all will be available in another three decades! I can't wait to see.
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