Social Media is Changing the Way We Experience the World
Social Media is a huge part of most people's daily lives. While I am not nearly as immersed in social media as my students, I know that even I spend tons of time looking at Facebook and Instagram. I don’t use TikTok like my students do, and I also don’t tweet. That being said, I wanted to broaden my horizons, so in honor of this blog post on social media, I decided to join Twitter.
As I joined Twitter I wanted to keep in mind some of the things I read in Hicks and Turner’s book Argument in the Real World. In Chapter 6, “The Moves of Argument in Social Media,” they discuss how “misinformation” can lead to “global wildfires” and how social media can create “echo-chambers” that lead to “confirmation bias” (Hicks & Turner 2017). Whoah, that is a lot to take in! With that in mind, I decided to be rather selective about the accounts I chose to follow. I decided to follow some reputable things such as NASA and National Geographic as well as some fun things like Disney, Star Wars, and Star Trek. Since “sharing misinformation is a societal problem” I wanted to be sure to avoid any temptation to just start liking things (Hick & Turner, 2017, p. 74). While I have been a Facebook and Instagram user for a while, being on a new platform did throw me initially and there were certainly some moments where I almost started clicking things. Considering I had this impulse as an adult, think how quickly our students start “liking” things. They are young and quick to click. Hicks and Turner remind us that “hitting “like” on someone else’s post is an endorsement, an act of arguing in the real world” (2017, p. 73). While I am happy to support our national parks, what type of things are our students supporting without even realizing it?
After swiping around on Twitter for a bit I decided to look up Troy Hicks. Hicks is the co-author of Argument in the Real World and has also written a number of other books and articles. In Chapter 6 of Argument in the Real World, Hicks and Turner emphasize the importance of teaching students to be “MINDFUL readers and writers” (Hicks & Turner, 2017, p.73). Below is one of Hicks' retweets that I found when I searched for him on Twitter. I decided to take the MINDFUL strategy from Argument in the Real World, and look at his post through that lens; you can read my impressions in the table below.
It seems all too easy for anyone, in particular our youth, to endorse all kinds of things without being fully aware of what type of argument they are making. Brugnoli, Cinelli, Quattrociocchi, and Scala published an article in Scientific Reports titled “Recursive Patterns in Online Echo Chambers.” In the article they argue that while social media enables fast communication and entertainment, it has also changed the way people form opinions (Brugnoli, Cinelli, Quattrociocchi, & Scala, 2019). According to Hicks and Turner, our students are doing a lot more reading than they realize (Hicks & Turner, 2017). In fact, this genre of reading is expanding and becoming more popular. As it does, students need to be aware of what they are spreading, what information they are giving their endorsement, and what argument that makes. It is easy to find oneself inside of an echo chamber. One post leads to another that leads to an article and they all share the same opinion. Students are already hugely impacted by peer pressure, take that mentality into an online environment and they can fall victim to confirmation bias. Brugnoli, Cinelli, Quattrociocchi, and Scala state that “during social interactions the strength of confirmation bias is stronger than one could think” (Brugnoli, Cinelli, Quattrociocchi, & Scala, 2019). For this reason, we need to make sure we are teaching our students to be informed readers and writers of digital text. In Chapter 6, Hicks and Turner share a graphic that Millicent Roskie, a technology teacher from New Jersey uses in her classroom. Milli found her graphic online and I was unable to locate the same source; however, I was able to find a similar one that I have shared below. I believe this graphic is a great place to end our conversation. As teachers we need to be sure that we educate our students on the potential pitfalls of social media; but also, teach them ways to contribute to this digital environment in a positive way that allows them to make meaningful, intentional arguments.
“T.H.I.N.K Before You Post”, Melissa Pilakowski
References
Brugnoli, E., Cinelli, M., Quattrociocchi, W., & Scala, A. (2019). Recursive patterns in online echo chambers. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 1-18. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-56191-7
Hicks, T., & Turner, K. H. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Heinemann.
Hicks, T. [@hickstro]. Using digital portfolios to combat injustice @GoWriteUnite Global Writers Unite [retweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/GoWriteUnite/status/1526004286743879680
Jessie,
ReplyDeleteI am like you in that I am very familiar with Facebook and Instagram, but I am not on Twitter. It is used for so many things educationally that I have often thought of joining, but I have been intimidated. You have inspired me to do it too, and it is a great idea to use the concepts we have learned in this book to guide us through setting up our accounts.
I thought about the question you posed, "What types of things are our students supporting without even realizing it?". That is a great question because I think there are a ton of things they are doing online without even realizing it. So it is our job to help them take control of what they are doing online through education. Turner and Hicks (2017) write, "While sharing misinformation is becoming a societal problem, there are ways to help students become mindful, critical users of social media as well as active producers of accurate information" (p.104). The concepts found in their book and especially the MINDFUL acronym are especially helpful for us to share with our students.
I think in addition to teaching our students to thoroughly vet information they are reading and sharing on social media, they also should understand some basics about how social media sites are set up. For example, many don't understand how algorithms contribute to confirmation bias; a basic understanding of how they work will help their social media savviness increase as well. Barnhart (2021) explains, "By default, social media algorithms take the reins of determining which content to deliver based on your behavior" (Section 2). By understanding how they work, students can take more control of what they read and write on social media.
References
Barnhart, B. (2021). Everything you need to know about social media algorithms. Sprout Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-algorithms/
Turner, K.H., & Hicks, T. (2017). Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts: Argument in the real world. Heinemann
Jessie,
ReplyDeleteAs tempting as it is to start liking things on social media, I cannot bare but begin to rethink it, especially after reading Chapter 6 of Arguments in the Real World by Turner and Hicks. The act of liking a post can be seen as an act of "endorsement" for the post itself, even "resharing content can still push forward argument" (Turner & Hicks, 2017, p. 108). As teachers, it is important that we educate our students on how they carry themselves online. This goes along with the digital citizenship lessons some of us teach in the everyday classroom. I appreciate the picture on THINK Before you Post! It is a great, colorful, and reactive image to posting safely online.
References:
Turner, K. H., & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the Real World: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Heinemann.
Jessie,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post this week and it was a refreshing analysis from a teacher's view point on how we as educators can help teach our students how to recognize and be informed about misinformation as well as how to be mindful of what they are posting/sharing. As a parent, I do worry about what my teenager is being taught about the internet at school and if she is being taught how to appropriately handle information she discovers while completing her assignments. My daughter doesn't have social media, but there are so many children her age (15) out there that do. Turner and Hicks (2017) discussed how they found that most of a high school student's time spent reading and writing are done via social media or texting, but those students don't view this as meaningful time spent reading and writing. They still consider reading a book or writing with pencil and paper as the appropriate ways they should be practicing those skills (pp. 106-107). I think that this is the biggest reason to help educate students about being mindful of what they read and post on the internet. Digital reading and writing is something they are all immersed in and don't even realize the impact of what they reading, recording, or sharing has on the world around them or even how quickly something can go "viral" without necessarily having those intentions. Awesome job with this post and I look forward to reading your next one.
References:
Turner, K.H., & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Heinemann.
Jessie,
ReplyDeleteI, too, was new to Twitter when I joined earlier this year. The main reason I joined was becaise it was a requirement for a class in the Spring. I used it to increase my professional learning network and it has really become a favorite of mine. I agree with being fully aware of the people and organizations you choose to follow in order to keep the chance of "misinformation" low. Lawrence (2022) states that some social media platforms push particular ideological agendas and make money off the advertising (p. 48). It makes it hard to truly know if what you read online is legit or not because you never really know who is in on something. Buda et. al, also states that social media use is one of the most popular leisure activities in adolescents. This is concerning because many of these young people are trying to find their identity and can easily be persuaded by various ideologies that are not always encouraging. I feel like as educators, we should try to teach more on this topic to create more of a fair battleground for our students.
References:
Buda, G., Lukoševičiūtė, J., Šalčiūnaitė, L., & Šmigelskas, K. (2021). Possible Effects of Social Media Use on Adolescent Health Behaviors and Perceptions. Psychological Reports, 124(3), 1031–1048. https://doi-org.ezproxy.montevallo.edu/10.1177/0033294120922481
Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital writing: A guide to writing for social media and the web.
Ontario, Canada: Broadview Press
Jessie you stated “As it does, students need to be aware of what they are spreading, what information they are giving their endorsement, and what argument that makes. It is easy to find oneself inside of an echo chamber. One post leads to another that leads to an article and they all share the same opinion.”
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Echo chamber was a new term for me, but it was something I could relate to. It's find article blaming biased algorithms for this, but it got me questioning, how much am I contributing to my personal narrative online? See for example on my Instagram feed I type post about my family therefore in my feed I have sponsored and promoted ads about #momlife. I have a Twitter account, but I've only used it at professional development conferences when we're asked to #something trendy in order to win something for the school. Since my Instagram is mostly personal life when I try to branch out and find teachers on Instagram, the results usually are like minded individuals that teach and have children of their own usually moms.
I found that e steps you took when creating a Twitter account were mindful and a great application of this week’s required reading.
I too would like to start using my Twitter account in a more professional setting. I'm pretty intimidated to post my views because I'm worried how the world (administrators, parents, coworkers, and even students) will judge me for my claims. reading about Catherine Hales lesson, inspires me to engage and add to arguments in the, real, teaching world, by “branding” my content. (Turner & Hicks, 2017, p120). I must start put pedagogy into practice worth sharing in my professional environment.
“Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice”- Anton Chekhov
Turner, K.H., & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Heinemann.