This week we had an amazing presentation from Jesse Miller about Social Media, privacy, and safety on the internet. It was a very dense, jam-packed presentation and I left with my head spinning with ideas on how to approach the internet in my future profession.
The part I most deeply connected with was when Jesse spoke about helping kids make sense of their online experiences and encouraging responsible digital citizenship. We spend so much time contextualizing things for students and setting clear expectations in the classroom, it only makes sense include those considerations in the digital world. For me the core values of personal and social responsibility need to be carved into the digital realm for students. Students need to be able to think critically about what they see on the internet, and have the skills to navigate it successfully.
My husband and I have been having many similar discussions about our own children, they are still very young (4&2yrs), and we have been talking about how to introduce technology to them. There seems to be so much pressure to shield children from technology for as long as possible. However, I really don’t want it to be a taboo topic in my house. I would like to be a part of their digital experience and help them navigate is successfully instead of hiding them from it. I try to model and appropriate relationship with technology. As a family we often play games online together and we make it a social and educational experience. I’m really hoping I can be their guide and ally though the digital world
I’m hoping to dive into the book list Jesse gave us. They look like great reads!
