Digital age changes teaching and parenting ways

TEACHING, parenting and learning have not been the same since the advent of digital media.

Is the change for better or for worse? That depends on how teachers, parents and students use the tools that are in their hands.

I have been doing the rounds of talks in schools, universities, academic associations and parent groups on the subject since my book, “Lights and Shadows of Digital Technologies,” was published last year.

These are some of the topics in the book that interest my audiences:

1. Reading is difficult for many digital natives.

Reading requires a slow, linear and sequential process that is much affected by the opposite process involved in digital technologies, which is fast, simultaneous and random.

Reading takes time, which digital natives do not want to invest. Much of their preferred reading material does not take more than three minutes to read. They may just look for sound-bites, bottom line con- clusions, without having to analyze, reflect, or argue.

Much of what they read are third-hand, digested, masticated materials. Depth has been lost. Like water sports, reading has regressed from scuba diving to snorkeling to surfing.

At least they are reading, some will say. Whether the things they read are good in quality or worthy of their time is another problem.

But more than content, the concern is what the Internet is doing to our brains. Medium is the message. It is the medium, not only content, that changes us.

If teachers and parents can in- spire their students and children to read—to love reading quality articles or stories, to value literacy—that would have been already a great service to the next generation. Look out for readers—and cultivate their passion.

2. Good writing is hard to come by.

When reading habits are poor, writing suffers. Writing term papers has become a copy-and-paste activity for students, broken by their less than perfect syntax, making it quite obvious where the copy ends and their own writing begins.

“Literacy is absolutely necessary for the development of sci- ence, philosophy, history, literature and the arts. Writing heightens consciousness,” maintains Walter Ong in his book “Orality and Literacy.”

Again, one may argue that people these days are at least writing—on social media. On what topics? In what manner? Of what quality?

Bad writing begets bad writing for the readers—not only affectively, but cognitively and grammatically. Had not Eleanor Roosevelt made this observation? “Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, and small minds talk about people.”

Teachers who require good writing will prepare their students for the final stage of their education—the dreaded thesis that upon graduation, can mean more chances and options for employability. Work on their papers, give feedback, improve their grammar.

3. Social media changes a personality and the meaning of friendship.

It is true that social media is a great way to contact old friends, build your networks, market your career and meet new possible dates. But so-

cial media is also where fake identities abound, where privacy could be easily lost—a breeding ground of illusions of friendship and a place that attracts cheaters.

Research studies have shown more negatives we should not ignore. Narcissism is stimulated and exaggerated on social media.

Howmany narcissistic people can we stand? And in a world of hyper-connectivity online, people lose real friendships. A quick “hi” or “like” or missive sending of an electronic greeting does not make for a true and lasting friendship that will take you to the highs and lows of life.

“Collectivity” is the name of the game in social media but that can degenerate into mob mentality, which discourages individual lonely voices standing up to their principles against dominant voices. Take the recent controversy involving LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender) communities and Manny Pacquiao.

I worry for students, teachers and parents, who are spending so much time on social media and are more interested in some very trivial conversations than on expanding their knowledge on world events that will impact their lives, maybe not immediately, but in a big way in the long term.

The world for many, ironical- ly, has shrunk to a small screen of pictures of meals and purchases of their “friends.”

To get kids and students interested in ideas and world events, parents and teachers should lead the way. But I’m afraid that many are no better than their kids or students in self-regulation and in selecting worthier subjects of interest that can engage their critical and analytic minds.

4. Cyberbullying is worse than traditional bullying.

While bullying used to be face-to-face after school in the backyard, cyberbullying now can be 24/7, all year round.

And while victims of old-style bullying might be able to escape from their bullies, there is no safe space for cybervictims. Pre-cyber age bullies may be identified by witnesses, caught and punished; cyberbullies today can escape identification and get away with repeated offenses.

In the past, bullying happened in front of a group of onlookers; today any offensive post can go viral. And without seeing the victims face-to-face, it is harder for cyberbullies to empathize with their targets.

Cyberbullying is a serious crime that parents and schools may choose to ignore. But it is a nightmare for victims who live in fear and anxiety. Statistics show that about 25 percent of students have been bullied and about 70 percent of students know someone who has been bullied but on- ly 10 percent of parents are aware of the problem.

With the cyberworld having no boundaries, whose responsibility is it? Home or school? Who is the adult or authority to guard against cyberbullying in society?

The Internet has brought new sets of problems and issues for its users. Are our students and children capable of safeguarding their lives and minds, able to decide whom to invite into their lives, whom to regard as strangers, whom to engage in chit-chats and how to relate to each other?

Too many youngsters and parents have to learn their lessons the hard way.

Parents and teachers should engage more in consultative discussions on issues of digital technologies rather than the wording of rules about the allowable length of hair or skirts.

Serious problems of schooling—reading and writing, social media and bullying—deserve attention on orientation days, in parent-teacher associations, in the school administration’s setting down of policies and responsibilities, and among stakeholders willing to cooperate in the mentoring and monitoring the young.