Bringing In the Tech

    Social media... a topic that causes so many of us to smile, cringe, cry... who knows what. Since I can remember, social media has been something so prevalent in our lives, it's the thing to keep our minds off the stress of our lives, but also sometimes it's the only thing that keeps us involved with everything that is happening in the world today. The main reason I use social media now, is to keep in contact with old friends with whom I've lost contact, and lurk and see what they've been up to. I have a majority of the social media apps to be used for communication, i.e. Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook... then when I just want some entertainment, there's YouTube and TikTok. Social action on social media can be either a major positive, or extremely negative...it is all about how you approach the situation. I feel in certain situations people do become over involved and it is within their right. I understand the involvement of social media in the classroom, but I think we need to be realistic, that they're are potential risks, with the involvement, you do worry about students doing other things, and being distracted from their primary work, and the primary reason they have the technological component. Secondly, which is my greatest concern, is that educators may become too reliant on that online/ internet component, and that may distract from their teaching. Haddix and Sealey-Ruiz hit the target ideal at the end of their article stating that "using digital tools does not exclude or supplant teaching the writing process". In many circumstances, many do become too reliant on this tool which is understandable, but one has to be careful. Everything has it's risk,  especially as time and the world around us keeps changing, and of course we want to keep up, but it's deciding whether or not it's worth it. 

https://www.waldenu.edu/programs/education/resource/top-five-benefits-of-technology-in-the-classroom