Suing MySpace

Several days ago I wrote a reply to a Blog 2.0 entry entitled "K-12 Students Want More Technology in Math and Science." In the reply I wrote that certainly most students want to use technology in schools since theyuse technology in the rest of their lives and are experts in using it. I reminded the reader that someone said that kids are natives in the land of computer technology while adults are merely visitors to it. I explained that teaching school today without the use of computer technology can be compared to the teaching of school twenty five years ago without the use of pens and pencils.

Many teachers encourage students to use the Internet for communication purposes. Students use podcasts, blogs, and instant messaging. Some teachers have even had students develop collaborative wikis. Not only are these activities interesting and fun. They are absolutely essential to high quality teaching and learning. Our students will live in a world that runs on electronic communication. They must know how to use it, not only for social purposes but for academic and professional purposes.

Despite the importance of electronic communication tools they also have the potential to be incredibly dangerous. As you likely know, a mother and her teenaged daughter are suing MySpace for $30 million because the daughter was raped by somebody she met on MySpace. Numerous women have been raped and even murdered by people they've met online. It's very scary.

Life is scary. People do horrible things to one another. They don't only do horrible things to people they've met online. They also do it to people they meet in person. Just think about things that are done at teenaged parties and fraternity parties. As educators it is our responsibility to help students learn to think about their own safety. People of all ages must recognize that they are responsible for their own safety and that their behavior has consequences.

Certainly Internet communication provides additional safety hazzards. For it's easier for people to judge others when they can see them directly, hear their voices and observe their mannerisms. However, the fact that it's more difficult to ensure safety through Internet communication does not mean that we shouldn't use Internet communication. It means that we need to continuously teach our students to be rigorous about maintaining their own safety.

Internet communication is here to stay. We should make sure that our students know how to use it safely.