#1 - The Digital Landscape

-

Social media and the internet are commonly discussed in the context of being a double-edged sword. Nearly all young people are on social media, be it Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat, and while the youth are more connected to the world than ever before, there is a constant debate over whether there is such a thing as being too connected. 

Social media platforms have evolved in recent years, shifting from being a way to update friends and followers with bits and pieces of your daily life and into a beast of information sharing. When I was in high school, Twitter and Instagram were the most commonly used platforms but in a way that is vastly different from what we see today. There were notable changes in the way people began to utilize the platforms, but not that many people were even on the apps yet to consider it a significant way to disseminate information beyond your social circle. On the other hand, today’s current events, breaking news, and world conflicts can be shared with millions of people around the globe in less time than it will take me to write this blog post. Especially with platforms like TikTok, where anyone can record short-form videos that will land on someone’s ‘For You Page’ seconds after posting, this rapid spread of information is a force that cannot be stopped.

This level of connection through participatory cultures is something that I admire, though. With the internet as a learning tool, young people have the ability to construct a new lens through which they can view the world. They are introduced to diverse communities and provided with the opportunity to learn about adversities afflicting different groups through firsthand, unfiltered accounts. In this way, young people have become more culturally and intellectually engaged on a global scale because they have the necessary background knowledge to begin asking critical questions about the world (DeJaynes & Curmi-Hall, 1).

Circling back to the double-edged sword of the internet; while it can provide a digital community that inspires solidarity and expands worldviews, it can also be difficult to navigate. Not everyone has the same cultural competencies and social skills necessary to get the most from media (Jenkins, 4). A lack of media competency creates an exclusionary environment that defeats the purpose of participatory cultures. A focus on media education would combat that exclusion and work in favor of promoting digital media in classrooms. Students being able to access digital resources presents a whole new world to those who prefer alternative forms of assignments. As opposed to a written essay, a student could create a collage on Pinterest, an infographic on Canva, or film and edit a short video. The options within digital media are endless.

Comments

  1. JordanJanuary 31, 2024 at 11:27 PM

    I really enjoy your style of writing, Fatima. It is engaging and thought out, opening paragraph to closing. I especially enjoy when you realize the power of social media amongst the youth when you say "[t]his level of connection through participatory cultures is something that I admire, though. With the internet as a learning tool, young people have the ability to construct a new lens through which they can view the world." I would like to add to that that quote: young people have the ability to share a new lens for the world to view.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ms. MorganFebruary 4, 2024 at 12:35 PM

    I second Jordan, your writing style is conversational and informal, but also very informative. I wish we had more time in class to discuss how quickly information is disseminated via the internet, especially from areas where censorship might impinge on authentic journalistic reporting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Candance Doerr-Stevens (a.k.a. "dancing stylus")February 27, 2024 at 12:24 PM

    Fatima, you make an excellent point about the participation gap and how it impacts learning. While we can assume that almost everyone uses social media, the ability to participate using more production-oriented ways may be out of reach for some. How can we tap into the high engagement while also up-shifting the use of these tools for thinking in our teaching? These are some questions that I often chew on :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#4 - Digital Storytelling (crowd cheers)

-
Image
Digital storytelling was a very rare treat presented to me in school. Beyond the standard PowerPoint (or Prezi, if you wanted to get really fancy), there were not many opportunities to explore different modes of storytelling in class until later in high school and only recently in college. Most of my experience is personal from watching video essays and booktalks or creating and designing infographics. Until recently, presenting information for an assignment was strictly completed through research papers (or if you want to get fancy again – short answer questions).   The digital media examples I mentioned above have always appealed to me both as a creator and as a consumer of media. Video essays are informative and insightful while also remaining engaging, and depending on the narrator’s personality, can be humorous as well. Here is a link to a content creator whose video essays I enjoy . The same can be applied to booktalks, which provide a creative spin on book reviews. Infograph...
Read more

#3 - Writing...

-
Image
There is no other love-hate relationship than the one between myself and writing. On one end, there is the satisfaction of successfully expressing your thoughts in writing, fully believing you have conquered writer’s block and should begin brainstorming ideas for a future novel. On the other end, the planning and organizing of ideas, the blockages, and the dreaded page count unite and have you seriously second-guessing that novel idea. In saying this, my writing process, and level of stress, depends on the type of writing I am working through.     Academic writing requires the most planning and consideration, usually beginning with a deep, centering breath before I jump in. First, I’ll start with narrowing down my central idea and thesis. This helps me during my next step, which is creating a rough outline of the topics I’ll need to cover. Once I have my main idea and an outline of my paper, I focus on the individual sections of my outline and write down the main points for e...
Read more

#2 - Who I Am

-
Image
G rowing up, I did not always consider myself a reader. I never felt pulled toward the material we read in class or the writing assignments we were given. I realized that feeling primarily stemmed from there rarely being room for exploration as a student. It wasn’t until I entered high school that I discovered the vast landscape of the book world and all that it offered to someone like me, who yearned for a place I could escape to (even in my imagination). I found that there was so much more to reading than I thought, with endless genres that I had never even considered. It was a turning point for me and I somewhat owe it all to my English and History teacher. They encouraged students to seek out the topics that interested them most when choosing novels, and more importantly they tried to instill in students a mindset that reminded them that the possibilities are endless. That mindset has shaped my perspective when it comes to reading and writing, especially in terms of how I encoura...
Read more