Social Media and Relationships

It is impossible to deny that social media is having a huge effect on the way people create and maintain relationships. I think that this can be positive and negative. The good aspect is that it is easier for people to maintain relationships with people they already know, especially if you aren't close enough to see each other every day or if they live far away. However, social media can cause people to trade a face-to-face relationship for a simple online exchange of words which may not be as fulfilling or meaningful. Facebook "poking" is something that bothers me because it makes people feel like they are connecting without even conversing. I definitely believe social media can be positive if you know how to use it for what it is, and not use it as your only way of forming relationships.
Just like with the topic of stalking and social media, I feel that it will be my responsibilty as a teacher to teach my students proper utilization of facebook in relationships. By encouraging socialization of my students, I will show them that there is value in personal, face-to-face relations.

Here is a video that I found on YouTube that discusses online relationships with Facebook, and gives tips on how to use it in a more positive way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KBW0_EcczM

Social Media as Stalking

I think it is intersting to consider social media websites as a form of stalking, because they are definitely changing the scope of what we consider to fall under that category. If someone was legitimately a stalker, there were other ways in the past that they would go about it. But now with websites such as Facebook, it would be extremely easy for a stalker to collect information about his/her victim, including pictures and if the person isn't careful with their information, location and school. What is changing today simply because of Facebook, is that normal people innocently conduct what may have in the past been considered stalking. It is commonplace in the era of Facebook for people to surf around other people's pages looking at their everyday activities through statuses, posts, and pictures. Thankfully there are ways to make Facebook safer, but few people utilize them to their full potential. Privacy settings help you limit the people who can view your facebook page, and there is educational material out in the world that teach kids not to put information online such as your full name, phone number, address, and school.
This is a very important topic for me to have a full understanding of as a future teacher. It will be largely my responsibility to educate my students about the dangers of the social media websites, as well how to use them as safely as possible. Also, due to the fact that the prominence of these sites is bound to become even greater by the time I have a class of my own, I want to be sure to be as educated as possible and be a good influence on my students.

Here I have included a link to an article in the Washington Post that is about stalking on Facebook. The fact that there are articles such as this one in legitamate news sources really shows how important the subject has become in the world.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/03/AR2009120303647.html