Social Media Issue

When it comes to social media and education, some parents and teachers view these platforms as distractions that negatively influence students. But in today’s increasingly digital world, social media plays a meaningful role in higher education every day. When used the right way, social media can enhance a student’s learning journey, also making it much easier for pupils and educators to connect. Research has shown how beneficial social media can be in terms of learning. Through these various platforms, teachers can connect with students and incorporate social media into their lessons, making them more interesting, relatable and engaging. Social sites are a great tool when it comes to interacting with students since it’s something they are so familiar with, using these sites frequently throughout daily life. So what are the most effective ways teachers can use social media in their lecture halls and classrooms? David Altounian, marketing professor in Digital Media M...

Vatican City, Apr 5, 2019 / 09:40 am (CNA).- Discussing current digital trends, from “influencers” to cyborgs to “zapping,” Pope Francis’ recent apostolic letter to young people contains both buzzwords and moral advice for Millenial and iGen digital natives. “The life that Jesus gives us is a love story, a life history that wants to blend with ours and sink roots in the soil of our own lives. That life is not a salvation up ‘in the cloud’ and waiting to be downloaded, a new ‘app’ to be discovered, or a technique of mental self-improvement,” Pope Francis wrote in his apostolic exhortation Christus Vivit (Christ is Alive) published April 2. The 50-page letter, addressed to “all Christian young people,” seeks to address the “highly digitalized culture” that young adults are immersed in today. This digital environment has “a profound impact on ideas of time and space, on our self-understanding, our understanding of others and the world, and our ability to communic...

The best metaphor for Facebook is the monster created by Dr Frankenstein. Mary Shelley’s story shows how, as Fiona Sampson put it in a recent Guardian article, “aspiration and progress are indistinguishable from hubris — until something goes wrong, when suddenly we see all too clearly what was reasonable endeavour and what overreaching”. There are clear echoes of this in the evolution of Facebook. “It’s a story”, writes Siva Vaidhyanathan in this excellent critique, “of the hubris of good intentions, a missionary spirit and an ideology that sees computer code as the universal solvent for all human problems. And it’s an indictment of how social media has fostered the deterioration of democratic and intellectual culture around the world.” Facebook was founded by an undergraduate with good intentions but little understanding of human nature. He thought that by creating a machine for “connecting” people he might do some good for the world while also making him...

“Ai is likely to be either the best or worst thing to happen to humanity.”  ~Stephen Hawking You’re already a Cyborg. You just don’t know it yet.  That’s right. Sounds crazy right?  Maybe it does.  But you are.  That phone you carry is an extension of your brain. I was watching Elon Musk on Joe Rogan recently and he spoke about this specific topic.  In today’s climate we use our phone (and to a lesser degree computer) for everything. We call an Uber, we get an answer to a question via Google, we store photos, we store music, we communicate with friends, we have apps tracking our health & fitness, among many other uses too numerous to mention. So the amount of Artificial Intelligence is growing. And the frightening or jaw-dropping thing about it is we seem quietly unaware how dependent we now are on it. Yes, there’s the day to day jokes about spending too much time on phones and how we all need to get outside more, however recently it feels...

"I used to spend the whole day in front of the computer, starting early in the morning," says 21-year-old Pedro from the city of Vitoria, in south-eastern Brazil. "I posted pictures, wrote about my days, added people. And then I would give my opinion about some politicians, especially when there were debates between candidates going on on TV." It might sound like an average day for an ordinary young social media user, but Pedro (not his real name) is actually describing his time as a "cyborg", someone who is paid to run fake social media accounts to influence public opinion.  Three years ago, during Brazil's hotly contested general election campaign, Pedro says he worked for a Rio-based PR company whose clients include a number of leading politicians.  He says that for around $360 (£270) per month, he ran 20 fake accounts on Facebook and Twitter designed to create a buzz around the company's clients. BBC Brasil spoke to Pedro as part of an...

The lines between social networks are blurring. Are the ones between social and humans all but gone? Facebook has made another move into mobile with its Facebook Home app. Use it and the default start page for your Android cell phone provides instant access to photos, comments and chats. Talk about in your face, book. As a rule, the easier to access it is to access, the more people want to use it. Meanwhile, LinkedIn introduced “mentions” making it more like business Facebook, Google added new Google+ tweaks, and Twitter has released Vine video. No longer clearly defined, a Forbes article speculates on social media’s colliding worlds, while its technology article this week questions some social media big wigs for their predictions for Facebook Home’s and its potential influence. The objective seems to be to turn us all into Faceborgs. But in my world, Facebook has peaked and everyone I know uses it less and less. Easier access will not help that. Indeed, the lin...

1. Use social media as an online "classroom " Social media doesn't have to take students attention away from their school work. It can actually provide the forum you need to reach your students in a more meaningful way. By creating a private Facebook group, you can post assignments, lecture via Facebook Live, and answer student questions via comments and private messages. While face-to-face teaching has definite advantages, this is a great way to connect with students who would otherwise be unable to attend a traditional classroom (for health reasons or because they live in a remote area, for instance). Such a class could also be used to augment the standard curriculum for students who fall above or below the norm. 2. Keep students involved during snow days and school breaks One of the key challenges for educators is to keep the momentum going when students are on spring or winter break, or when they have to stay away from school due to harsh winter weathe...