Digitized Lives: Part 1

I was delightfully surprised to learn that T.V. Reed is a professor at WSU. It's nice to be able to read books written by those at my university. I found Reed's thoughts in Chapter 3 to be the most interesting, this idea that people are able to transform into someone else entirely on the internet. This opens the door for manipulation, deceit, theft. With all of these apps, Photoshopping abilities, and computer hacking, it is no problem for even the least tech savvy individual to create a false identity online. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that it's not only the digital liars and manipulators that fake their identities online. I do it too, albeit, in less intentional ways.

LinkedIn, for example, is where I put on my best face. All of my job experiences, my education, my certificates, all of my talents and abilities are put here. To anyone who doesn't know me outside of this page, I am a talented DTC major, graduating in December 2015, with a variety of job experiences, ready to join a workforce. I look smart, focused, hardworking, pleasant, and like a fantastic future employee. None of my flaws, faults, or failures appear on this page. Facebook is where I put the most interesting me: every cool place I go to, all the cool friends I have, all the most exciting photos of myself, they all go here. Everyone puts different versions of themselves in different places on the web.

We hear tons of stories about someone who met another person on a dating website, but when they set up a non-digital meeting, they found out that this other person was actually nothing like who they said they were online. There are even reality television shows about introducing two people who lied to each other online. People play games like The Sims to create a new identity for themselves, to live the life they've always wanted or to just try out living a different way for fun. We love creating false identities, while we also struggle to keep our real identities. Identity theft is a huge problem in our country, particularly with the digitization of so much of our lives. Someone gets ahold of your credit card number, or your social security number, and they can ruin your credit score, your reputation, your whole life.

So much depends on our identity, and yet we are so eager to make up a false one.

Grown Up Digital: Part 3

In my previous blog post, I talked about Tapscott's view on the education system, and contrasted it with my own viewpoint. For this post, I will be talking about the American political system, and my personal experiences with it.

Let me start by saying that I agree with everything Tapscott said about the Net Generation and democracy. He has some powerful opinions that go against the mainstream idea that the Net Generation is also the Me Generation, and I appreciate that optimistic viewpoint. If you truly believe that an entire generation is self centered, then you should be trying to change them, not tell them that they are wrong. Also, I believe that the Net Gen is much less self centered than the previous generation. The previous generation has pursued the American dream with extreme vigor, and most have succeeded at attaining it. The Net Gen seems to be more interested in leveling the playing field, helping others obtain not the American dream necessarily, but the dream of equal rights and opportunities. So, in summary, I appreciate Tapscott's take on the Net Geners.

I do not read big newspapers (I occasionally read the Daily Evergreen or the Argonaut, when I have the opportunity), I do not watch cable news, I do not visit news websites. I get political information from Facebook, Buzzfeed, Tumblr, etc. I glean what I need to know from what people are posting, sharing, talking about, on social media outlets. Therefore, traditional political campaigns do not reach me at all. In the 2012 elections, I learned a lot about Obama, and next to nothing about Romney, except that he is Mormon. Tapscott was completely correct in his analysis of Obama's success: he targeted young voters and reached out to them in a way that made them feel of value. Obama has a Facebook page, Twitter account, and a Tumblr, which actively responded to inquiries and comments made by Tumblr users. Net Geners respond to interaction and honesty, not lies and manipulation.

I remember watching TV with my parents in high school and seeing a lot of attack ads, particularly against local folks, or against Obama on Fox News. I still see them when I visit my folks (they have cable, I don't), although I see them less frequently than I used to. I absolutely hate attack ads. It reminds me of how a little kid, when at risk of getting in trouble, will point at someone else and say "but he did..." It's childish, and there is no integrity in that. Every time I see an attack ad, it makes me much less likely to vote for the person who sponsored it. I want an honest politician, even though I don't think that they exist. Tapscott was also correct in saying that Net Geners distrust the traditional political system. They don't trust politicians who are all about money, which we believe is all of them. The more honest a politician is, particularly in acknowledging their flaws, struggles, or desire for some sort of personal privacy, the more likely they are to gain votes from Net Geners.

Occupy Wall Street is an excellent example of how Net Geners have used technology to make a difference. People around the country flocked to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites to organize a civilian led political stand against the wealthy political leaders of Wall Street. It's interesting for me to dwell on all of these ideas, because, although I would vote for Obama and support OWS now, when all of these things were at their peak, I was a very conservative Republican who would rather die than lose capitalism. Interesting how things change when one grows up and learns to think for themselves. The internet, particularly the social communities on the internet, have played an exceptionally large part in developing my political, social, economical, and personal beliefs and opinions.

Grown Up Digital: Part 2

Tapscott spent most of this section of the book talking about how to change the way education and company's work to better accommodate the Net Generation, which is a peculiar way to go about things. He says that education is still stuck in the industrial age, and that it is inhibiting students from learning; that we need to change the education system ASAP to be able to teach students the things they need to know. I both agree and disagree. I believe that the education system is lagging behind and isn't helping students learn as well as it could. For the most part, I believe that is because the teacher to student ratio is ridiculous, and that students are not receiving enough face time in the classroom with their teachers, and at home with their parents. Technology is great, and it is a great boon to education. But this generation of students wants to learn hands on, not from lectures or watching videos. We want to experience things. If you want us to learn, then show us, and let us try it over and over again until we remember how to do it.

I disagree with Tapscott's analysis in that the education system is responding too slowly. It is responding as quickly as it is able. Teaching is a very conservative profession, and many current teachers are comfortable in their ways and are happy to keep trucking along. This does not make them bad teachers, it makes them challenging to learn from. My girlfriend is about to graduate and become a student teacher. She has stories upon stories about all the new technologies that she is learning about, the new ways of teaching, the concept of lifelong learning (which her personal pedagogy is based around), and how to create a student focused classroom with minimal lecture, and maximum collaboration and discussion. The way my girlfriend is going to teach her students is much different than the ways I was taught in the classroom. This is a sign of progress within the education system. It must start with the new teachers, while they are in college, and it will trickle down to the students as soon as the previous generation of teachers is settling into retirement. And so on and so forth with each upcoming generation. Tapscott was wrong in saying that it is taking too long, it is happening, the new teachers are up to date and ready to teach, they just need to be given positions.

In high school, I learned via discussion and actually doing things. I cannot remember ever being lectured for a whole class period. And now that I am in college, most of my classes are purely lectures. Only one or two actually mix it up and do something different, and only one of my classes is a non-lecture based class. To shift from constant discussion and computer based learning to lectures and note taking was a bit of a shock, and to be honest, I am bored through most of my classes. I retain information for tests, and then I promptly forget it because it has not proven worthy of remembering, it has no place in my future, and does not help me advance myself to be a desirable employee. Colleges are definitely falling behind in that regard. There has to be a better way to do education, especially since I am majoring in Digital Technology. My classes shouldn't be about books, philosophy, and ideas. It should be about learning how to create digital media, interact with technology, and change the way our culture works.