Produced by Caitlin McNally and directed by Dretzin and John Maggio, the film, Growing up Online shows a clear difference between the virtual world and the real life of emotions with regard to teenagers and young people. From the film, young people have made the internet part of their social and academic life. The film agrees that the internet is today a way of life and the young IT generation of today are influenced by the internet in many ways. The web shapes how the youth behave, learn, interact and share information. Therefore it becomes a crucial tool for learning. However, virtual learning has its own pros and cons. In the film, young people who are shy offline are vocal online. Oblinger and Oblinger (84) point out that student spend a considerable time online for entertainment, communication and leaning. This includes chatting with friends, classroom activities, emails, downloading music, videos, creating graphics on Photoshop. Therefore, the net is essential for communicating; enhancing creativity and digital media is a library of all kinds of information.
They use YouTube video and place their profiles on MySpace and Facebook for many reasons. The tragic end of the teenagers in the movie raises issues about the impact of technology on young people in the society and school environment. In the film, Ryan Halligan a 13 year old American teenager commits suicide because of cyber bullying online. Jessica Hunters story shows how young girls looking for a self identity struggle to feel accepted by posting their photos and looking for answers in sites about their anorectics conditions. Jessica manages to get a fake identity online despite her rejection in real life. When the website popularizing her is shut she feels as though her rights are violated and her world is erased. Teenagers enjoy a forged sense of security online. On social media, young girls like Sarah find support groups to help them deal with anorexia and diet problems. In essence, the film is an eye-opener for parents and care givers to be aware of the incidences happening online which have adverse effects as much as in real life cases.
Online Cheating in Academics
It portrays the typical image of young people today but brings out issues about what is real and what’s a lie. The 14 year old Jessica obtains a new name and physical image online by posting photos online to find more friends and fans than in real life. Cheating is rife online and people are willing to put up lies for a public image. Cheating refers to deception and lies and it applies to different situations including an attempt to gain a competitive advantage over others under false pretense. It is going against morals and ethical standards. Accessing online material without proper citations leads to plagiarism. There is a difference between online and face to face learning. The internet is a source of academic dishonesty today because of this (Spaulding Michael, 185)
As a result, information online becomes a lie when it is reproduced, or fabricated. For instance, summaries and unnoted notes can be convenient yet they discourage learners to explore learning material for their own analysis. E-learning can be looked at from the behavioral, humanistic, and cognitive approach. This brings out the pros and con of learning. Behavioralists propagate that learning is through association hence learners should be aware of the dangers and benefits of the computer. The humanist theory encourages privacy to give the student the freedom to explore information independently. The use of photos and sharing online is emphasized by the cognitive theorists who view this as an experience to help them organize and assimilate information thereby accommodating what is positive. Therefore e-leaning is more enjoyable and has interesting details (Bokhari and Kuraishy, pp, 291-293)
MySpace, Facebook and Real World
All over the world teenagers are involved in an internet culture with its unique language features. Parents would rarely understand when the young people interact online because of the generation gap created. Languages like; POS (parents over shoulder).. It is amazing that her parents are surprised of the outcome since they never had an idea of what she was doing online most of the time. The internet influences how they interact with family and friends in daily communications. Teenagers fight online through language and abusive content. It is common to find comments against others online and this can be quite detrimental since it publicizes the young teenagers. When it involves an attack on a crucial part of their life, the damage is worse. While this is not physical, it is bound to harm their self image and is equally suicidal as seen in the case of Halligan. The movie demonstrates how different characters of the young people in the real life experience life around the internet. Others like Jessica find happiness online since social sites have the ability to make them more popular through more following and likes. Young people enjoy posting images, photos and videos online and the net gives them more confidence to appear in the public than in real life.
However the web barely gives room for privacy and discreteness. The youth find pleasure in internet interactions across the globe. Through the social media network, they interact; find information, entertainment and discoveries. Growing up online is a documentary film highlighting some of the issues young people encounter as they interact with the internet. One of the major effects of online interactions is the sharing of information in social media featuring, Facebook, and MySpace. Over the years, parents have expressed their worries over how best to manage the internet so that it can benefit without harming the young people. The film brings out some of the dangers in online interactions featuring destructive information and predators who are out to misuse young people. Naïve parents in the movie even note that ugly scenes online ‘happen all the time’. This is demonstrated in the movie with parents like the PTO head who are clueless about the massive impact of social media. She even emails other parents to discuss issues about her son not knowing that online there is little privacy. Everything posted online becomes public. From the movie lessons, it is advisable that parents learn to have a one on one communication with their children in order to avoid publicizing issues. Therefore, parents should be aware of cyber bullying and online exploitation. This is because the internet is public and calls for responsible interactions to avoid its negative effects.
In the film, a teacher’s point of view recognizes that technology aides in education by enhancing creativity hence it should be used to educate as much as it’s used for entertainment. While some teachers find the internet beneficial, others are skeptical of technology as a reliable source of information since it has too much than enough. Young people share content, videos, and materials online some of which is informative, others detrimental to their habits, character and mental health. The fact that the internet is accessible on a 24/7 basis makes it a challenge for young people to learn ways of managing their time properly. Poor management of time leads to misuse of computers and deprives them of family time, and a healthy social life. The web can deny children of a valuable childhood experience. The internet is filled with online predators seeking naïve and vulnerable young people. Internet predators are willing to meet young people after engaging in online interactions. The film as an eye opener for parents, guardians and young people reveals the hidden truth about online links. Cyber bullying is one of the issues discussed in the film. Oblinger and Oblinger agree that although the net saves time, is convenient and improves learning, (94) an appropriate way to engage learners should be used (118). In conclusion, parents and teenagers should be made aware of the pros and cons of the internet so that everyone embraces it as part of life without allowing it to manipulate their lives. The web is a crucial source of academic learning and it is also important in social life as a communication tool. Proper management of its benefits and resources will ensure that it improves life rather than destroys it. Teachers, students and parents have so much to learn from when coping with the growing digital age today.
Works Cited
Oblinger, James, and Oblinger Diane, eds. Educating the Net Generation. Educes. 2005. Web Accessed 25th November 2012: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/pub7101.pdf
Spaulding Michael, Perceptions of Academic Honesty in Online vs. Face to Face Classroom, Journal of interactive online Learning, Vol 8(3),. (2009) pp 183-201. University of Tennessee, Web Accessed 25th November 2012: http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/pdf/8.3.1.pdf
Bokhari Mohammed, and Kuraishy, Salma. Teaching Effectively with E-Learning, International Journal of Recent Trends in Engineering, Vol. 1(2). (2009). pp 291-295. Web Accessed 25th November 2012: http://ijrte.academypublisher.com/vol01/no02/ijrte0102291293.pdf
