Digital Communication: Common Sense is Not That Common

Human Beings Are Social Animals.  There is an inherent need for people to communicate with others.  Looking back in history, human beings have made many efforts to make communication better for everyone: cave drawings, alphabet systems, invention of paper, a mail system, the telegraph, the radio, the telephone, electronic mail, cellular phones, on-line chat, short message services ( SMS texting), smart phones, etc.  Especially for adolescents, they yearn to communicate with others to develop their social skills.

Adolescent Years.  Students face the greatest changes (and challenges) in their lives, biologically and socially.  They are developing a more complex way of thinking.  They are able to understand abstract concepts and communicate these abstract thoughts to others.  They are beginning to analyze the social order of their environment and recognize their place.  At times they will question their status and/or challenge it.  They are also beginning to hone their social skills with their peers.  They talk to each other about everything that’s going on in their lives.  Therefore, communication is vital to an adolescent’s development.

In today’s modern world, there is a wide range of communication tools available to the average adolescent.  The telephone and internet are two platforms which students would most likely use.  Most of the time, these two platforms will merge to support wireless tools.  Some examples are smart phones to send SMS texts, documents or pictures over the internet.  Some adolescents also join social media arenas which provide almost synchronous communications: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google Chat, Yahoo Messenger, etc.  As technology is becoming more accessible to everyone, there are more and more communication outlets available to adolescents.  This assignment opened my eyes to the vast number of ways our students can be victimized online.  Therefore, society needs to be more cognizant of how adolescents are using these communication tools and teach them some common sense.

Common Sense is Not as Common as Most People Would Think.  In order for something to be common sense, most people would have to know about it.  Hence the term common.  Today’s technology is rapidly advancing and wide spreading, it is very difficult to keep up.  So when something new is up and coming, most teenagers would know about it.  However, because it is new, they would not know all the nuances of the tool.  Let’s take for example Twitter.  Suppose person Z sets up a Twitter profile.  Z is able to share his/her account with specific or all Twitter account holders.  Other Twitter account holders are referred to as followers.  Every time Z posts something on his/her Twitter account, all followers will be able to read the post.  What if Z posts he/she needs help?  What if Z posts “You can help by sending a small donation to xxx.”  Out of the many followers, how many wold respond?  How do teens distinguish the validity of the post?  How do teens distinguish the validity of person Z?  What does common sense tell teens?  As I mentioned earlier, common sense is not as common in this instance.

In today’s modern communication, it is getting easier for perpetrators to victimize the innocent.  Studies are showing an increasing trend of adolescents being online victims.  Yabarra (2006) tells the characteristics of online victims.  Majority of them are adolescents.  Jones (2013) tells an alarming story of an increasing trend of online harassment.  This study was a cross sectional study of adolescents 10 years to 17 years old over a period of 10 years.  As educators, we communicate with our students daily and we need to teach them some digital common sense.  Our ED609 (Technology Application for Educators) class have compiled some advice that someday will become common sense:

• There is no changing your mind in cyberspace—anything you send or post will never truly go away.
• Do not provide personal details or private information over the internet.  eg. Names, physical addresses, what school you attend, social security numbers, bank account numbers, phone numbers, etc.
• Unfamiliar emails, do not click on automatic hyper links that will take you to a website.  Almost always there is a malware (software intended to steal information or cause harm to your computer system).
• Unfamiliar emails, do not respond.
• Validate the website you are visiting.  There are some websites that mimic the real website and try to steal your information.
• If in doubt, throw it out.  Do not attempt to find out on your own if the files or links are legit.  Delete and ignore it.
• Report anything inappropriate to an adult.

For my science class, I have my students do research online.  Prior to the assignment, I will share “online” common sense with my students and discuss the issues.  I want them to understand the value of online safety.  Hopefully they will share the online safety ideas and make it common sense.

References

Ybarra, M.L., Mitchell, K.J., Wolak, J., Finkelhor, D.(2006). Examining Characteristics and Associated Distress Related to Internet Harassment: Findings From the Second Youth Internet Safety Survey. PEDIATRICS, 118(4), pp. e1169 - e1177

Jones, L.M., Mitchell, K.J., Finkelhor, D. (2013). Online harassment in context: Trends from three Youth Internet Safety Surveys (2000, 2005, 2010). Psychology of Violence, 3(1), pp. 53 - 69.