As future teachers, there are a lot of social issues that we will all need to be aware of. As students get older, these social issues become more prevalent. A lot of students have a need to be popular. By being aware of these issues, we can either use them as part of our lessons, or make attempts to lesson the social issues in the classroom. These issues include:
Privacy Issues
Privacy becomes a huge issue, mainly because a lot of students think that it won't happen to them. With so much technology out there, it's not difficult to figure out a person's exact location and a lot of very personal stuff about that person. It can become a place for predators to prey on young children or the elderly. Social media allows for these predators to find information, even if the user of the social media thinks that their page is private. Not only that, cameras can be made small or put into technology, such as the Google Glasses, which can take pictures and record people without their knowledge. Even schools are somewhat guilty of breaching students' privacy when using radio frequency identification (RFID) to track students' attendance and whereabouts.
Health-Related Concerns
Although these health concerns are still being studied, teachers should be aware that having loud videos or music playing through headphones, or staring at a screen for too long can cause students to have hearing and vision problems. Another health concern can be a concern at home and at school. Child obesity in America is increasing at an alarming rate. Students would rather spend all day playing on the computer or playing video games than go outside and get physical activity needed for their development. Although we can't go home with the child to make sure that they aren't on technology all the time, we can restrict the usage of technology in the classroom and make sure students are going to gym time and going outside to play during recess time.
Fears About Technology Overuses and Misuses
Many people believe that they are masters at multitasking, which leads to many people texting or talking on the phone while driving. This practice is extremely unsafe and often is the cause of car accidents. Cell phones in the classroom are not much better. They can cause distractions during a lesson and can also be used to help students cheat on schoolwork or tests. A more serious misuse of cell phones is when students send explicit texts or photos, a practice known as sexting.
Risks of Being Online
Like what was talked about before, privacy is a big issue with being online. Not only can students be prey to people who may wish harm on them, jobs and colleges are also looking at social media sites of potential employees or students. People don't realize that a lot of things, like pictures, are available for almost anyone to see. Even if students put their accounts on private, pictures can be taken from social media by friends and sent around like wildfire. This can lead to a very serious problem on the internet, cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a term used when a person or group of people harrass another person using social media. This can sometimes lead to the harrassed person becoming depressed and, in very extreme cases, may cause that person to commit suicide. Cyberbullying is a huge problem, especially in high schools and colleges.
Malware, Viruses, Spam, and Hacking
Malware, which is short for malicious software, can harm (viruses) or spy (spyware) on the operations of a computer. Malware can severely damage the operating system of a computer. It's a good idea to look into different kinds of protective software for your computer that can help detect and get rid of any malware that may try to find its way onto your computer. Spam are unsolicited e-mails or website postings. For the most part, these are harmless unless you click on them. Spam can be dangerous in the school due to students and staff not knowing about spam and clicking on the e-mail, thinking it is legitimate. This spam could wreak havoc on school computers, sending out malware within seconds.
One of the best things we can do to go about solving this issue is to make sure everyone, students, staff, and teachers, are all aware of the issue. Students need to know how easy it is for people to take their information and use it against them. Students tend to think that it won't happen to them, but teachers need to come up with ways to show students that it could happen to them. Things that may be a bit more heavy to talk about, like cyberbullying, need to be talked about. People are often uncomfortable when it comes to talking about mental illness or suicide, but this isn't an issue that teachers or parents can skirt around. Students need to know about all of this stuff that can happen to them if they do not use technology properly. Obesity, kidnapping, cyberbullying, all of these are problems that affect all students. Technology can be a great tool, but it can also be a deadly weapon.
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