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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Anonymity of the Internet and Free Speech

Peter DeWitt wrote an excellent article in Education Week about social media and freedom of speech which you can read by clicking here. I particularly enjoyed his comment in the article that "Those people posting negative comments on Facebook were negative before Facebook ever started." There is a lot of discussion about cyber-bullying on social networks, and anyone who has ever read the "comments" on any controversial on-line article knows that adults can be just as bad (if not worse). One of the things we see on the internet is that the ability to be anonymous certainly influences some people to write things that they would never say out loud. And sometimes, although the person is not anonymous, s/he knows that s/he is commenting on the work of someone half-a-world away whom s/he will never have to look in the eyes. But I have discovered that even in situations where adults are not anonymous and they are writing to persons they know rather well and will certainly have to continue seeing face-to-face, they feel empowered to make hurtful and uncivil comments.

I spend considerable time in my classroom working with students on developing the life-skills of politeness and civility. I don't know where parents are on this, but I must be blunt when I say that these are basic skills that a majority of students (at all socio-economic levels) lack. It takes time and patience to teach students that just because I think something is true, and just because I can say it, doesn't necessarily mean that I should say it. I refer readers back to my post on Chaminade's silence of words: "Speak only when you will it, and will it only when it is necessary."

Scripture tells us that the power of life and death is wielded by the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). I think, we, as adults, need to set an example for children both in life and on-line of using our words to foster life and growth. Positive and uplifting speech should be our norm. We need to cut unnecessary negative, judgmental, hurtful, gossipy comments out of our speech, and restore our speech (particularly our public speech) to a more civil level.

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