Weekly Reading #5

How does these chapter support or counter adult views of adolescent use of social media as destructive or frivolous? It seems that in the past that adults have frowned upon teens gathering in public places to socialize.  They ended up gathering in Malls when they were built to then socialize.  Teens are now using sites like facebook, MySpace and twitter to engage in their social lives.  If students do not have the opportunity to connect with their friends often on social media websites they feel like they would lose their social world pg79.  I think that adults still frown on teens using facebook and other social media sites as they think of it as a waste of time. 

How did this chapter change or confirm your understanding of adolescent use of social media? It is easy to see that teens need to be able to communicate to enhance their social world.  They are now able to reach out beyond their generational and cultural boundaries to enhance their social world pg82.  Students might have only had a couple of friends that they talked with or shared personal information with.  Now they easily could have a couple of hundred friends to shard themselves with.

When they are in what is considered an intimate relationship they are able to keep what is considered a leash on their significant other through the use of cell phones, social networking sites and instant messaging.  Teens having access to these technologies are actually changing and shaping the dating world as we know it.

What connections, if any, can you make between this chapter and learning in school?  One of the hardest things for schools to deal with is the drama that social media sites can cause.  There is a lot of bullying done on these sites pg 105.  This can take the focus away from learning.  Students aren’t just dealing with the drama while they are at school, they have it to deal with any time they are online.  So they actually cant get away from this drama.