I had a thought this morning which has probably been clear to most of you for years, but was new for me. I've been working on some upcoming presentations dealing with the importance of digital media and social media in the future of education and the Church. Part of what I hope to do is respond to the attitude of fear and disparagement turned toward digital communications. I often see announcements for presentations at schools on “Internet Safety”; however, my experience of these talks is that they really should be called “The Scary, Scary Internet, and How to Keep Your Child Away From It.”
I was working through some of the claims of this position in my mind, preparing my own response statements that I'll use in upcoming talks. As I tiredly rehearsed the same polemics, suddenly a new thought emerged from the intellectual ping-pong.
It's all true.
The digital universe, much like our world in general, is so large, so diverse, that virtually anything can be said about it, even contrary statements, and it will all be true. So if you tell me that there are dangerous people using social media to harm children, that's a fact, but if I say that millions of young people's lives are made richer by interaction with digital resources, that's also true. If you say that classroom technology initiatives can be unsuccessful wastes of time and money, that's a fact, but if I say that digital resources can be used to improve student learning, that's also true. If you say that many children are too tied to digital devices and lack skills of personal communication, that's a fact, but if I say that many children need more access to digital resources and to develop skills of digital communication, that's also true.
The problem is not with the facts as much as what we choose to do with them. The facts that there are dangers and negative outcomes to digital citizenship is real, but it cannot stop us from aggressively pursuing this digital future for our children. Similarly, our conviction of the many values of the online life, can't keep us from awareness of challenges and dangers.
In our polarized society, we have come to equate a fact with an agenda, not acknowledging or recognizing that that fact exists in a sea of various and contradictory realities. The digital world (much like our world) is not one thing or another…it just is.
As always, I invite your comments.
Image Credit: 'tell truth'
Posted with Blogsy
Absolutely. I’m working on a companion piece right now which will be next.
I’m doing a talk in Milwaukee next month. The title of my talk is “Digital Media and the New Evangelization: Choking the Weeds with the Wheat.” I think we need to reclaim the digital world and stop ceding it to those who misuse it.
I teach in small Catholic school in SC. Recently I started teaching some lessons on digital citizenship using material from CommonSense Media. The material is very well done and is mostly postive and upbeat. Yes, we need to keep our kids safe, but the primary focus is on the fact we’re in a digital world with many wonderful possibilities. I have found themes of kindness and respect applying them to the digital world. Ironically, some of my students have said negative views of the Internet which I assume they have heard at home. I’ve been telling them that like all things it can be used for good or for bad.