We are bombarded by technology around every corner of every day and most of us have incorporated Social Networking Media into many aspects of our daily lives, whether it is for work, study or keeping-in-touch purposes.
Most of the businesses we frequent utilise Facebook, urging us to “like” them or on Twitter to “follow” them, effectively supplying them with the opportunity to constantly market their latest products to us.
But have you ever stopped for a second and wondered where this has started and where it is going?
Before the advent of the Internet, businesses relied on the marketing abilities of the well-spoken and lets face the truth – the politician that talks the talk is the one that sways the voters, not the kind-hearted individual that means well but cannot string a coherent sentence together!
However, this is all about to change as social networking equips individuals that are more comfortable with the written word, with the means to express themselves and make the “powers that be” sit up and take notice.
A study done by Gill Valentine (University of Sheffield) and Sarah Holloway (Loughborough University) that explores the social networking of children in both on-line and off-line worlds, has shown that children and teenagers in particular, find it easier to express their opinions on-line since the anonymous nature of the Internet appease their fears of rejection and criticism. More children turn towards the Internet to communicate with peers, in many instances to continue conversations that started earlier in the classroom and wasn’t brought to conclusion.
Right or wrong, the fact remain that we have entered the “so-called Information Age” and “children – as symbols of the future – are at the heart of debates both about how the possibilities that information and communication technologies afford should be realised and about the dangers of social exclusion for those who are not technoliterate” (Valentine and Holloway, 2002).
It remains a challenge for every parent to find a balance between supporting children in exploring technological communication skills and steering individual interests towards including “real world” activities and ensuring continuing development of verbal communication skills.
Kroker and Weinstein (1994) quoted by Valentine and Holloway (2002) are of the opinion that “computer literacy will form the basis of membership in an emerging virtual class, because the technologically competent will be able to convert their intellectual capital into both economic and cultural capital”. To me that translate to a time where individuals will be paid for what they know and not for what they do and in the light of that argument, it makes sense to ensure that our children are comfortable with utilising (parental approved) social networking and media technologies.
References:
Valentine, G and Holloway, S.L. (2002). Cyberkids? Exploring Children’s Identities and Social Networks in On-line and Off-line Worlds.
