Today is Safer Internet Day. I’ve spent a lot of time on the Internet, going back over ten-years before any of you were born (the mid-1990s…). Then when I started using the Internet for teaching I told students that it was like a virtual field trip and like any field trip you had to pay attention to your surrounding so that you didn’t find yourself in any uncomfortable situations. There were and are bad people and bad places out there. But just looking around at my classrooms, I know that, just in numbers, there are more good people than bad. So today’s question is: how do we make the Internet and our experience of it better?
It might seem like a fool’s errand to imagine that anything an individual does can affect or change the nature of something as huge as the Internet. At the same time, some folks just hope that by ignoring it, it’ll just go away. Yeah. Well, it’s not going away and it’s going to be embedded in the future of our culture, economy and careers. I think the key is that we don’t deal with the Internet as individuals but begin with friends and small groups. The real value is sharing, the real pull is when one experiences a sense of community, and the real danger is looking at the lives portrayed on the Internet and feeling alone.
While we might click through and watch videos or play games by ourselves, we are entering a virtual space usually looking for the reflection of others, looking for a way to communicate and connect. And just like any other space there are norms that need to be learned and followed so that one can stay safe. It’s probably best to approach online experiences using a buddy-system, maybe with someone you know in the face-to-face world whom you trust and from there expand your circle one friend at a time. I still believe that there are more good people than bad, and that it’s best to cautiously make connections with those who gain your trust and move on or move away from those who aren’t worthy of your trust. Just like the motto of today’s event: “Together for a better internet.” Happy connecting, y’all.
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