Post 9 Chapter 9 Social Networks October 25, 2011

The author has said it all, himself, whether he knows it or not;  he has given us good reason  NOT to  take some of the actions  he proposes, (for example become an active participant  in Facebook and interact as such even with our student or encourage their participation with-- in my mind--some questionable others ), Early in the chapter he cites the fact that "the fastest growing segment of Facebook... is the over 55 set.... ( Of course  means that Facebook will soon be [sic] anathema to all of our students -- we can only guess where they will go next."  ( 131)

So, if Mr. Richardson is right about the above, then  teachers in great numbers  joining Facebook, ostensibly to be able to understand the difficulties posed therein and to "teach students all sorts of important lessons about digital citizenship, safety, information literacy, and more,"
 (133) will have failed from the start. As our students  flock elsewhere to interact as they wish, they will do so as we linger on Facebook, and they will have strayed far from our watchful eyes, strayed from our sight. 

I overtly reject the notion that teachers must participate or simply be 'no nothings.'  To me that seems akin to  proposing that to understand what goes on in this country's most dangerous prisons, we as "moral members “of society should somehow find our way into the cloistered calls and witness firsthand what is really going on. Or, put another way, perhaps  each of us must somehow  find out way  onto an unpeopled island to live with the boys of Golding's  Lord of the Flies just to learn what that experience is really like.  That ,obviously is bluntly absurd, as adults and adolescents alike have doing just fine--and form some times-- learning the searing lessons of that tome by reading about it!