A Blogging Explosion
Blogs kind of remind me of reality tv shows. They both seem to represent a microcosm of life that is displayed for the world to see - some parts interesting and others hardly worth our time. There's a blog for every subject and for every opinion under the sun. A local news blog absolutely blasts a couple of morning anchors - in a rather mean-spirited and hurtful manner. So it made me wonder - how will the ability to praise or blast, help or harm, comment or rant, impact on the future of our society?
I think that, as a society, we have become less polite, kind, and tactful in the last 15 or so years. As the internet has grown and blogging has skyrocketed, we have an entire "cyber culture" that is guaranteed anonymity. Anything can be said, however damaging or enlightening. Is that positive?
Many of us grew up in homes that taught "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." That almost seems to be a thing of the past. Is honesty always the best policy if it is hurtful? And is it really honesty, or is it opinion. I worry about the future of our youth. Many at the elementary level don't seem to have a real understanding of accountability and responsibility. We teach the importance of our "Character Counts" system and then our kids log on to the internet and discover a very worldly and sometimes negative view of many things. There's an amazing wealth of technology that is so positive, but my concern is that blogging offers a forum to everyone - and while everyone may deserve the right to be heard, there's little that can be done to validate the positive and discount the negative. The most recent school shooting points to a young man who made comments on a number of Hitler youth sites. No one realized the importance of his musings. How do we help kids? How do we know who needs our help?
It is, at the very least, a conundrum. The world-wide dissemination of information and opinion is one of our greatest achievements and one of our most frightening challenges.
I think that, as a society, we have become less polite, kind, and tactful in the last 15 or so years. As the internet has grown and blogging has skyrocketed, we have an entire "cyber culture" that is guaranteed anonymity. Anything can be said, however damaging or enlightening. Is that positive?
Many of us grew up in homes that taught "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." That almost seems to be a thing of the past. Is honesty always the best policy if it is hurtful? And is it really honesty, or is it opinion. I worry about the future of our youth. Many at the elementary level don't seem to have a real understanding of accountability and responsibility. We teach the importance of our "Character Counts" system and then our kids log on to the internet and discover a very worldly and sometimes negative view of many things. There's an amazing wealth of technology that is so positive, but my concern is that blogging offers a forum to everyone - and while everyone may deserve the right to be heard, there's little that can be done to validate the positive and discount the negative. The most recent school shooting points to a young man who made comments on a number of Hitler youth sites. No one realized the importance of his musings. How do we help kids? How do we know who needs our help?
It is, at the very least, a conundrum. The world-wide dissemination of information and opinion is one of our greatest achievements and one of our most frightening challenges.
posted by Becky @ 12:55 PM
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