What's MySpace Grandpa?

First I have to admit, every time I read the word MySpace I cringed, as it pulled me right out of the reading. Of course the concepts of utilizing social media as a communication tool are the same, but the execution evolves.

The social media tools that replaced MySpace, such as facebook, twitter and others have changed how people interact online. The way we communicate today is much more interactive, instant and ironically intimate.

That being said, the issue that caught my eye and is a subject I take great interest in, was the story Vasudevan, Dejaynes, & Schmier (2013) repeated about the student sharing information with a girl he just met:

Not wanting to lose touch, Joey and the young woman “swapped URLs” so that they could access and be linked to each other’s MySpace profiles. The three of us listening to the story laughed out of curiosity, and Joey clarified that “they”—presumably, youth of his generation—are more inclined to share online profile information than phone numbers. (p. 31)

In many ways this openness represents the double-edged sword of limitless communication. Yes, the technology allows students to become more invested in their learning. Yes, it allows instructors the ability to communicate and interact with students more readily than ever before. All of these are good things and it’s great that teachers are trying to incorporate it into their instruction.

However part of the school experience goes beyond learning a particular subject. In many cases it is in school where we learn the rules of being part of society and how to apply what we have learned. One of the things I have found lacking so far in speaking about new media, is the social aspect of the technology apart from its educational value.

When students blog, tweet and post, they are exposing themselves to the world, for better or worst. As we know from the news, this is the aspect that causes many students to stumble and often there is no net to catch them.  

One of the things I wish we did better as educators using this technology is spending some time on the practical side of things and not just on the bells and whistles.

Vasudevan, L., Dejaynes, T., & Schmier, S. (2013). Multimodal Pedagogies. In C. Lankshear, & M. Knobel (Eds.), A New Literacies Reader: Educational Perspectives (pp. 31). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.