How can we — parents and educators — teach children to practice appropriate social-tech behavior? What guidelines can we use? What rules can we enforce?
It would be nice to have clear answers to those questions — and I believe they exist — but there seems to be more confusion than clarity on the subject of what constitutes “appropriate” social-tech behavior. In theory many adults can differentiate between what’s acceptable and what’s rude, but in practice rude seems to rule. Increasingly adults seem to be modeling inappropriate social-tech behavior — making it harder for parents and educators to guide young children. And etiquette isn’t the only issue — there are developmental, educational, and health concerns to consider. Can multi-tasking students learn and develop (mentally, socially, emotionally) as well as those who aren’t distracted by laptops and smart phones?
Two recent articles take on these topics: one, in the Washington Post, about whether or not teachers should ban laptops in classrooms, and the other, in Slate, on the rules of social-tech etiquette. The Post piece ends on a not-so-hopeful note: ”[UVA professor Siva] Vaidhyanathan, an Internet scholar, senses a losing battle. In an era of iPhones and BlackBerrys, Internet-ready cellphones have become just as prevalent in classrooms as laptops, and equally capable of distraction. If professors had hoped to hermetically seal their teaching space by banning laptops, they might be about three years too late.”
And the Slate article ends with no conclusion, only more questions, thrown out to the reading public: ”That’s where you come in, dear readers. Perhaps the best way to solve the problem of the Internet’s intrusion into our daily lives is to use the Internet’s power of collaborative thinking. Let’s work together to come up with a concise, easy-to-understand, and logical rule that anyone could apply in any social situation to determine when to reach for the phone and when to keep it hidden in the deepest recesses of one’s pocket or purse.” Might be worth checking back to see if Slate readers come up with any worthwhile suggestions.
As the Internet evolves, so will our rules — and disagreements about rules — regarding its integration into our lives. Maybe in this Web 2.0 (3.0?) world the paradigm of adults teaching kids won’t quite work — maybe we’ll all be learning together.
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