To me this issue becomes one of trust. Will I trust what I read online because it’s easy to find? For example, Steiner says, “Teens tell me about the hidden time they spend cultivating their identities on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or school e-mail groups….It is tedious and time-consuming work and, they say half-joking, it presents ethical dilemmas about truth in packaging: do you tinker with truth…or brag about a party adventure that you weren’t really in on, or Photoshop your image?”
My Reaction:
I know someone whose daughter told everyone online she was pregnant. That gossip got around to me via a neighbor. It was just a joke, but we didn’t know that until much later. Translate this outside of social media: Googling a question or going to ask.com is so easy. Should I trust what they say?
I wonder: what will it be like for my daughters? When my oldest starts using the web (which she does not yet), will she trust a website over my opinion, or Wikipedia over her Bible?
Or are teens today more perceptive than we all think? Maybe they aren’t obsessed with technology 24/7 and actually know what to use the Net for and what not to. I don’t know. What do you think?
Questions:
Do you or friends spend a lot of developing your online profiles?
What would happen if you didn’t keep up your profile?
Does social media tempt you to lie about yourself or others?
dear mr maechner
ReplyDeletepersonally, I dont spend to much time trying to fix or change my profile. Honestly i can care less at times. But, i do know a lot of people that take so much time on just one photo. There are some people i know in real life and when i go on their social media they look competley different. Its very hard to trust people these days because everyone is so caught up in trying to be perfect on social media for other people to see or notice them. Its hard to trust things or people.
You know what's funny, is I see it among adults too. You can look at a mom's social media page and she seems to have the most wonderful, exciting, sweet family based on her posts, but in real life her marriage is on the rocks and their kids are having all sorts of problems because of it.
DeleteI know I don't spend much time on social media as the "norms" do. I'm also aware of the friends who tend to care for social media. I feel as if nothing would change if I was inactive. People are too caught up in themselves to notice the difference. I am not tempted to lie about myself at all in my public profiles. It has never occurred to me to do so.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great thing!
Deletesocial media does not tempt me because I have a flip phone but am tempted to go on video games. some times I feel left out because I don't have it.
ReplyDeleteThis is one benefit we've found as home schoolers. Our kids don't care about having phones because they're not around other kids all day who have them. It's simply not a pressure for them, but when you're around it all the time, like most teens are, I'm sure it must create a lot of profound pressure. I personally avoided getting a phone at all until a few years ago and when I did I just got a flip phone. My wife and I have an iPhone between us, but I'm glad we don't both have one.
DeleteI use my phone a lot but we aren't on it 24/7 because we have school. I think that helps you get off your phone or electronics because we get used to not using them.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is definitely a place that you can lie on. It is easy to lie because no one knows truly who is typing or posting the photos. And if they post the photos, it might not really be them.
ReplyDelete--- Kyla Fuller
it is very easy to be fake online. Personally i like social media because it helps me connect with my friends from my old school. but i also think it not really a good thing because some people are on it all the time. its so easy to be a different person online because you are behind a screen. thats why so many people are cyberbullied.
ReplyDelete-Cassie Bryant
I agree with your point about connect with people you don't see often. That is definitely one benefit. I can communicate with family and friends that are far away more regularly than years ago before cell phones.
DeleteYou can lie online but i am not tempted to lie because personally i do not like the idea of social media i feel that its does more bad for kids our age than good. ID:42422
ReplyDeleteyes i do think social media can tempt u to lie about something because u do not know who is posting it- andrew dicarro
ReplyDeleteNo I don't believe social media tempts us to lie about ourselves or others. I feel that people who are self conscious are just as willing to lie in person as to social media. Social media was created so others could know how interesting you are as a person and not for lies to make yourself "cool".
ReplyDelete-Joey Gentile
You make a good point about people lying online who would also lie in person. I suppose the difference is that lying online is much easier than lying in person and therefore is more tempting. There are lots of things people wouldn't say or show in person that somehow from a distant computer screen seem easy to click "post" on.
DeleteIf you did not keep up on your profile, I think that you would lose followers. Your page/channel rating would go down.
ReplyDelete-tevester billingslea
I do think that social media leads to people wanting to lie about themselves. If there are people that you talk to that you don't know they are going to talk to you based on your profile and what you write about yourself.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is weird. It can convince you to lie, but not everyone does. If i didn't keep up with my profile, i doubt people would notice.
ReplyDelete-Christian English
Nobody I know (including myself) really spends that much time on their phones looking at their profiles. I think that's mainly because teens don't exactly use a lot of social media today that really have the option to spend a lot of time on a profile somebody else can look at. The most popular social media today, Snapchat, allows to you send pictures and texts to your friends, and show off more than one picture to more than one person at once, if you choose to do so. Something like Facebook, however, which teens don't use very often, has a very, very big emphasis on creating a profile for everyone (or at least just your friends) to see.
ReplyDeleteValid point.
DeleteI think that social media dose tempt us all to lie.
ReplyDeleteIt usually happens when you want to impress or show of to others that you're better than them.
Joshua Rader
True.
Delete