Social Media Article Review

Why I Use Social Media in My Classes

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Photo credit: screenshot from teachthought.com

After taking this class I feel like I have a better idea of the technology I can use in my classroom. That is why I picked this article. I wanted to get some more insight into how I can integrate social media into my future classroom as well as connect and engage with students. The picture above I think is a great poster showing how social media can impact and change the classroom setting. The article that I picked to read confirms that I think using social media in the classroom is a positive thing. 

I really enjoyed reading this article by Julie Smith. She teaches media courses at a college and is a firm believer in social media being present in the classroom. She uses the students phones to her advantage. She has them join the class Twitter chat to discuss with each other without having to use their voices, Kahoot, and PollEverywhere to get students engaged and having them take control of what they are learning. 

Photo credit: screenshot from heyjuliesmith

I love what she said here in number two. She is trying to make what she is teaching student centered and interesting for her class. Back in college and even now at Dominican every time I enter a classroom it is always said to us to try to keep our phones put away. Teachers should know by now that putting out phones away or turning them off isn't something easy for our generation. With that in mind more teachers should try to integrate social media into their lessons. Julie Smith states, "a quick cell phone activity breaks up the class, re-engages them, and shows them that I am interested in connecting with them through a medium that they love." It allows students to take their phones out as well as to use their phones to learn something new. 

Julie isn't delusional or naive to the fact that students are going to be on their phones regardless of what a teacher says. There is no point in fighting it anymore, instead she uses that to her advantage. When students are interested in what they are learning and it is meaningful they won't need to snap, tweet, surf, or scroll they will be busy with what is being taught. 

This article really got me interested in the idea of using social media in the classroom. If we want kids to learn we need to get on their level and use what they are using to our advantage. Lastly, Julie ends her article by encouraging her students to use social media. Use their Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, etc with their classroom hashtag. She wants students and others to see that learning is taking place 24/7 and not just within a classroom with a teacher lecturing for an hour. 

Digital Tattoo

My Data Dig

What is data mining and digital tattoos?
Every time we go on the internet or post something we are leaving behind a digital tattoo. This is something that many of us all need to be mindful about. What we say and put out on the internet never goes away...even if we delete it. This can have a negative effect if someone says something on the internet and it gets out. Even though they "delete" what they say it can be forever out on the web. Leaving a digital tattoo doesn't have to be bad though. It can be something that is meaningful and positive for people to see. When we leave a digital tattoo we can then go data mining to see what shows up on the interest about our digital history. Here is what my data mining showed me...


Picture of me:
I do have social media so I expected to find my pictures through a Google search. The first one on the left is my Pintrest profile picture and the picture to the right is my profile picture for my Goodreads account. The bottom left picture is for my Twitter account profile and the bottom right picture is my Instagram profile picture. 

Photo credit: personal photo/screenshot
buddig89 on Pintrest

Photo credit: personal photo/screenshot
Ashley Buddig on Goodreads

Photo credit: personal photo/screenshot
@ashbuddig on Instagram

Photo credit: personal photo/screenshot

@ashbuddig on Instagram

What I Found:

While I continued to search myself I found that my last name did come up Budding, which honestly doesn't shock me one bit. My entire life people and even auto correct have tried to spell my last name with a N in it. 
Also, immediately when first searching my name Carl Buddig and Company comes up. Since this is still family owned business it doesn't shock me that when I Google my name it comes up. 
While searching, many of my family members; my mom, brother, aunt, uncle, and grandparents also showed up. On some sites like radaris you can see not only family, but neighbors and even family without the same last name. I thought that was shocking/creepy how the sites are able to connect people like that. 
As for my age and gender everywhere I searched, Google, Spokeo, TruthFinder, and Peakyou all showed the same accurate information. 

Address: 

I have moved multiple times and the searches I have done through Google, Spokeo, Whitepages, Nuwber, and radars all show the addresses I have lived at. One thing that was confusing was on fastpeoplesearch it has my current address as the one when I lived in California and it doesn't have the address where I moved to this past October.

Job title:

On the Community Consolidated School District 181 website I am listed in the Walker School Staff menu.

I also found information on a job I used to work at out in California. When I lived in California back in 2013-2017 I worked as an office manager for a chiropractic office.

School: 

On mysuburbanlife my name is in the 2008 graduating class of Hinsdale Central High School.

I also found on Western Illinois University website my 2012 college graduation.

Hobbies:

If someone searched me they could check out my Pintrest page and find out what my hobbies are. I have various boards, such as recipes, dream vacations, Disney tips and tricks, dogs, teaching, home decor, and crafts. These are all things that I am interested in and my hobbies. If they also check out my Goodreads account they will find the various books I have read and the books I want to read. They can see my reading interests and the particular genres I enjoy reading. Lastly, if someone where to look at my Instagram account they would find that some of my other hobbies are my dog, my family, and that I love to travel.

Photo credit: personal/screenshot 

Photo credit: personal/screenshot

Photo credit: personal/screenshot 

Is this a skill that should be taught to students? If so, how young and who is responsible?

Yes, this should be taught to students! Before the age of 2 children already have a digital foot print because of parents taking and posting photos of them. Also, in the video that you shared you said, "most children have 1,000 images of them posted online before their fifth birthday." To me that is a shocking number. 

With all those images posted on the web I believe it is crucial to teach students about their digital tattoo. Jamie Knowles(a senior manager with the nonprofit Common Sense Education) states, "digital 

citizenship lessons should start early, as children begin using internet-connected devices while toddlers, Knowles says. In elementary school, lessons can cover how students absorb media, and what opportunities the internet can provide, Knowles says. In middle school, topics such as online bullying and identifying trustworthy sources can be studied. By high school, students can debate concepts such as the role of social media in their lives and how much personal information corporations should be allowed to collect." 

I believe that parents should be the ones to start off teaching their children about a digital footprint. Since they have already set their child up with a digital footprint they should be the ones to explain to their child that they have posted many pictures and by doing that when people search you those photo can still come up even if deleted. Parents are also the ones that should be deciding if their child has a social media page and a discussion about what you put out on the internet should be had. Lastly, once students enter school I believe it is the teachers and computer lab staff that should be teaching students even more about their digital tattoo and the pros and cons to having one. 

Photo credit: Kathleen Morris

Photo credit: Kathleen Morris

Additional Resources:

Teaching students about their digital tattoo

Kids and their digital footprint 

Cool Tools For Schools

Reflecting on Research

Media and Body Image

For this week's blog post, I decided to take a closer look at the data collected from Common Sense Media on Children, Teens, Media, and Body Image. This current generation of students is very consumed with technology. As a result, problems arise when working with this media.Working at the elementary level, I have seen students as young as kindergarteners reflecting on how they look and compare to things they see on TV. According to the research done by Common Sense:

"Body image is developed in early childhood, and even very young children exhibit body dissatisfaction."

When I read this paper, I wasn't surprised that kids aged five to six years old start to experience body image dissatisfaction. The shocking part to me was that the kids already know about dieting. Some already even engaging in some sort of dieting behavior. "Twenty-six percent of five year olds recommend dieting behavior (not eating junk food, eating less) as a solution for a person who has gained weight and by the time they're seven years old, one in four children has engaged in some kind of dieting behavior" (Lowes & Tiggemann, 2003). Social media plays a huge role in how children think they should look. Television also plays a big role. Both social media and television teach children that thinner is better, and that if you look a certain way, you will be pretty. Kids are  comparing themselves to models, cartoon characters, their peers, pictures they seen online, etc. They are doing this at such a young age, and the consequences are very negative.

Social Media and Teens 

A second article, also through Common Sense Media,  discusses Social Media, Social Life Teens Reveal Their Experiences.  I read this article next because I wanted to see how social media was impacting teens' lives. The first article had some shocking statistics about children as young as five having body image problems. I was curious to find information on how this impacts teenagers. One part of the article had teens take a survey on how social media makes them feel. "The survey included a social-emotional well-being (SEWB) scale based on concepts such as happiness, depression, loneliness, confidence, self-esteem, and parental relations." 

Using the graphs below, the data showed teens who were on the lowest end of the social-emotional well-being scale have the hardest time with social media in their lives. "Nearly half of teen social media users at the low end of the SEWB scale say social media is “extremely” or “very” important in their lives. Teen social media users on the low end of the scale are also much more likely to say they’ve had a variety of negative responses to social media, such as feeling bad about themselves when nobody comments on or likes their posts; feeling left out or excluded after seeing photos on social media of their friends together at something they weren’t invited to; and deleting social media posts because they didn’t get enough likes. Disturbingly, more than a third (35 percent) say they have been cyberbullied, compared to 5 percent of high-SEWB teens." After reading the stats from this survey, it is very alarming to see what effect social media has on teens who already have low self esteem. Technology has come very far in recent years. It has taken education to new levels, and it's a great way for teachers to differentiate lessons for students. However, its drawbacks can have harmful effects on children of all ages. These drawbacks can cause body image problems, low self esteem, leave students feeling lonely, and can even cause cyberbullying.

        

(Both pictures from: Common Sense Media )

Additional Resources:

More stats on teens and body image dissatisfaction

Children, Teens, Media, and Body Image Infographic