as i've written already, my premise is that youtube is creating a culture of 13-17 year-olds who create, process, and use information in a very different way than even slightly older people (based on a talk with a couple of 25 year-olds, i'm guessing anyone over 22 is out of the loop). so, in effect we are dealing with a culture that lacks any elders. i have "preached" that responsible educators and other adults need to understand what's happening so that they can become the elders of the culture even if they live outside of it. but how do we do that?
i'm thinking part of the answer is that we don't focus only on kids in our own houses and classrooms, but actively engage kids online through comments. here's an example.
a couple of days ago, i received a comment on "his noodly appendage" that read, "your retarded". no joke! upon viewing the commenter's channel page i discovered i was dealing with a 16 year-old named brandon.
how to handle this like an elder?
i commented back, "no, actually i'm not. i take it you're not into satire." i didn't receive a reply, so i sent an email and an invitation to be friends. in the email i said that i didn't understand why brandon would say something so hurtful without first asking some questions or finding out what was in my mind. i told him that i had watched his video response to dan brown (noodly appendage was also a response to the same dan brown video) and i understood his feelings.
while brandon hasn't accepted my friend invitation or responded to my email, he did comment again asking, "do you really believe this stuff". you can read my reply at the video if that's important to you. what's important to me is that a calm rational, friendly invitation may have taught a young person to think before making intolerant comments.
it's a small step, but it's in the right direction.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
These are important thoughts to think.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the Vlogbrothers have sort of naturally landed in this sort of elders category. As well as some of the other "older" popular tubers. Shaycarl seems to be having a positive effect in that regard, and so are Charles Trippy and Alli. Even Dan Brown.
I think they are pretty healthy rolemodels on YouTube.
We need more of them. Not copies of them, just more responsible adults, or even teens, that are aware that they are rolemodels.
I see a horrible trend of copyright infringement, crap content, bad attitudes and cyber bullying all over youtube. Mostly from people under 18.
It needs to change. Sadly, I see the same trends elsewhere, so it's not just a YouTube thing. it's on other websites, and most importantly, real life. Bad attitudes that worry me. No wonder we have so much violence and hate in this world.
i did a survey at the middle school where i teach. 75% of the 110 kids surveyed use youtube as their primary source of entertainment 4-7 days per week. the top things they watch are lady gaga and l'il wayne videos (70%), comedy (30%) and street and school fights (15%). numbers don't add up to 100% because 1 kid can watch multiple shows. kids report watching 10-30 videos per viewing. these kids are not watching shay carl or dan brown or the vlogbrothers. the average urban kid is not a nerdfighter. that was the appeal of nerdfighteria in the first place, right. because we weren't like everyone else.
ReplyDeletei think we get caught up in that clique and forget what other stuff is out there on youtube. that's one of the messages i'm trying to get across with my little vlog. that we go watch videos by people (in my case i mostly care about kids) who are not necessarily nerdfighters and try to interact with them in positive ways.
i have had only very limited success so far, but at least i'm making a start.
Oh absolutely. I definitely got the point, and it's something I've noticed as well.
ReplyDeleteThe same thing can be said of internet users in general. We forget that there are literally millions of people that don't have internet access.
But my point in mentioning them was that they are the kind of role models I like, and hope more kids adopt.
The sad thing is that most kids, or most people, never get to see these awesome small communities, because they are overshadowed by the money makers and low quality content. Although cute cats and the odd fail video can be amusing.
I like opinionated, (possibly shy and slightly introverted?)creative types. Oops, I accidentally labeled you.
yes. i am a gregarious introvert. when i was a kid, i wanted to be a hermit- sort of a mystic yogi meditating in a cave and seeing the face of god. it's the height of irony that i'm in a profession where i am engulfed in a sea of humanity all day.
ReplyDelete