Our Online Identity

The more I read, the more I reconcile myself to my Digital Immigrant status.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not an unwilling immigrant.  I actively embrace technology.  I love the ability to have information immediately available to me whenever, and wherever, I choose.  I do not need my information relayed linearly, but can hyperlink with the best of the natives.  I write very little and type nearly everything.  I've produced videos, blogs, photo books, webpages (using html and Web 2.0), and wikis.  I'm enrolled in an entire online educational program collaborating on assignments with others that I've only "met" online.  I regularly train my teachers in technology--how to use and integrate it into the curriculum.  Despite all that, I am clearly not a Native.  Not only was I not raised on digital technology, I cannot, no matter how hard I try, fully embrace it where my every thought, my every action becomes part of the digital world.

My online identity aligns pretty closely with my real life identity.  Until I know someone well, I am extremely reserved.  I don't share a lot of personal information and I don't ask a lot of personal questions of others.  I withhold quite a bit until trust is earned and trust is not earned easily with me.  Where I differ online is that I remain reserved.  I don't put much in writing or in photos and make it readily available to others.  Even as a child, I never kept a diary or wrote down things I did not want to share because I had been made painfully aware of the permanence of artifacts and the harm they could cause when used maliciously by others.  Perhaps this experience is what has made me so unwilling to share much of my identity online.

With the ease that digital artifacts can be copied, edited and distributed now, I think a little reticence is not a bad thing.  Heverley (2008) emphasizes the permanence of digital artifacts and how easily they can be used to embarrass or used to victimize someone well into the future.  His concern is with children and how to protect them from the distribution of media artifacts that they either knowingly or unknowingly participated in.  Although I agree with his points, his article actually concerns me more regarding the use of digital artifacts by adults.

As a school administrator, I am acutely aware of how perception can affect your teaching career--either positively or negatively.  Unfortunately, I am afraid that not all adults I know have that same understanding.  Many of the teachers at my school maintain Facebook sites.  I do believe that social networking sites can be used in a very positive way, especially by educators who could use it to collaborate and grow professionally.  This is not what I see at my school, however.  Instead, I see teachers who use their Facebook to post personal details of their lives many times regarding situations that are best not shared with parents or students.  Even more disturbing, I see teachers who "friend" parents or students and then put themselves into a situation of becoming a part of the school gossip mill of disillusioned or disgruntled parents.  Worse, I see parents then allowed to be part of the conversations that used to take place in the teacher's lounge and have now made their way to Facebook.  This not only brings the teacher's professionalism into question, but also their judgment.  This is simply a position I would not readily put myself into.

As a parent, I have even greater concern for my children.  As I am sure most parents do, I regard my children as being bright with good judgment and morals.  Despite my inherent belief in my children, I don't think they have the natural suspicion that I have regarding the permanence of artifacts.  Nor do they seem to understand how easy it is to manipulate artifacts to be used against someone.  I know they "know" that photos can be manipulated through photo editing programs, but I don't believe that they automatically question the authenticity of images the way that their father and I do.   Lankes (2008) discusses this and the importance of teaching children how to question images the way that we may currently question written text as authentic.  Despite my attempts to teach my own children this, I don't know that I have been successful.  I particularly worry about my college aged daughter.  Although exceptionally bright academically and fairly worldly, she unabashedly trusts the "security" measures of Facebook and routinely posts photos of herself to her hundreds of friends.  She does not seem to grasp the fact that these friends then post those photos and their Facebook site may not be as secure as hers.  And she does not consider how easily someone could download one of her photos, edit it, and distribute it worldwide without her knowledge.  In the college world of rapidly changing friendships, this is not an unlikely possibility.

I wish I could understand the adolescent (and many adults) need to be validated through comments from others (Flanagin, 2008).  Perhaps if I could, I would be able to make my concerns more understandable to my children.  For now, I try to understand that as they discover who they are, they are displaying that journey for everyone to see and read about on the Internet.  My hope is that they are savvy enough not to give up too much of themselves so that they are not faced with potential, permanent embarrassment in the future.

References:


Flanagin, Andrew J., and Miriam Metzger. “Digital Media and Youth: Unparalleled Opportunity and Unprecedented Responsibility." Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility. Edited by Miriam J. Metzger and Andrew J. Flanagin. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 5–28. doi: 10.1162/dmal.9780262562324.005


Heverly, Robert A. “Growing Up Digital: Control and the Pieces of a Digital Life." Digital Youth, Innovation, and the Unexpected. Edited by Tara McPherson. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 199–218. doi: 10.1162/dmal.9780262633598.199


Lankes, R. David. “Trusting the Internet: New Approaches to Credibility Tools." DigitalMedia, Youth, and Credibility. Edited by Miriam J. Metzger and Andrew J. Flanagin. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 101–122. doi: 10.1162/dmal.9780262562324.101