Internet Safety- Access to Pornography

Internet Safety in regards to
When it comes to Internet Safety and protecting our children, there are many threats that include access to pornography, cyber bullying, spyware, and online predators. Access to Pornography includes Child Pornography, videos or pictures that focus on sexual acts, sexual violence, and indecent pictures. It seems as though, as technology advances the access to inappropriate sites and pictures increases. Many of my students are really big on social media. They have Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Whenever a new social media site becomes available, the students are the first to begin using it. With that usage brings about threats to the safety of children. However, it is not only the content on social media that threatens children, it also various search engines such as Google, Bing, Internet Explorer, and Yahoo. If you search for a particular image on Google, that may not be a pornographic image, as you scroll through the images they can quickly take on a pornographic nature. According to Internet Safety 101, "Pornography has become increasingly acceptable, accessible, and freely available, and it is one of the biggest threats to our children’s online safety. Today, any child with unrestricted Internet access is just a mouse click away from viewing, either intentionally or accidentally, sexually explicit material online, from adult pornography (the kind of images that appear in Playboy) to prosecutable material depicting graphic sex acts, live sex shows, orgies, bestiality, and violence. Even material depicting the actual sexual abuse of a child (child pornography)—once only found on the black market—is instantly available and accessible on the Internet.  Through the Internet, much of this aberrant material has entered the mainstream, directly impacting our children's healthy sexual development" (n.d.). In my opinion, one of the negative affects that access to pornography has on children is that it makes them think that certain behaviors are acceptable that are not. For example, a student (male or female) touching another student inappropriately because they have seen it in a video on Facebook. Or, saying something inappropriate to another student because they saw it on a meme on Facebook. Since access to pornography can have such a negative affect on children, something should be done about it right? Shouldn't there be laws that restrict the access to pornography on the internet? According to Shulevitz (2016), "two bills passes by Congress to restrict minors' access to pornography over the past two decades were struck down by the Supreme Court because they infringed on adults' First Amendment Rights". Therefore, the restriction of access to pornography rests in the hand of the parents (as it should be anyways). There are a lot of resources for parents to create restrictions and censor the websites that their children visit and what they are exposed to.
Here are my suggestions:

1. Physical and Literal monitoring by parents- sit in the same room and watch the websites that your children visit.
2. Block Access- Some internet providers have controls for parents to block access to certain websites. I am with Time Warner Cable and they have settings for blocking websites. 
3. Download software- there is software that allows parents to not only block access but to also monitor visited websites. 
4. Social Media- determine rules for the usage of social media. For example, no social media accounts at all until they reach a certain age.

Can you all think of any other ways to decrease access to pornography? What do you all think about internet safety in regards to access to pornography?

Shulevitz, J. (2016). It's ok, liberal parents, you can freak out about porn. Retrieved from:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/17/opinion/sunday/its-ok-liberal-parents-you-can-freak-out-about-porn.html?_r=1

The Digital Divide

The digital divide refers to a lack of internet access for certain groups of people. More specifically, people of color, of low socioeconomic status, older people, income levels and people who have less education are all affect by the digital divide. Research has shown that these groups are less likely to use the internet. These are all factors of the digital divide, but I am going to focus on education levels. Perrin & Duggan (2015) states, “educational attainment has been one of the strongest indicators of use” (p. 5). And, honestly this makes sense. It may be that people who have attained more education use the internet more because they have more of a use for it in their everyday lives. Furthermore, their jobs may require internet use more so than jobs attained by people who have attained less than a college degree (not always). For example, a person with a Bachelor’s degree in Education who currently has a career as a teacher may require more use of the internet than a person who is currently working as a fry cook at a fast food restaurant. Teacher’s jobs demand use of the internet in ways such as taking the attendance of the students present in their classrooms or even returning emails. Additionally, since some occupations require internet use, they are more likely to bring work home with them and need the internet in their homes. On the other hand, it makes sense that jobs where people have no high school diploma have little or no internet access. I had a job during my undergrad that had wifi throughout the building but they only had one computer in the employees lounge. There was only one computer for over a hundred employees.

Another thing that I thought about is that people with college degrees typically (not always) make more money than people with some college, a high school diploma, or no high school diploma. Therefore, they may be more likely to have devices outside of a cell phone such as a laptop or a tablet that is capable of connecting to the internet. Furthermore, their income can afford them wifi in their homes. Wifi is an extra bill. So, like I said earlier on it makes sense for people who have a higher degree and who may make more money to have more access to the internet.

Lastly, people with a college degree or higher may just have more of an interest in using the internet. Or, just may be more accustomed to getting information through the internet. I am currently working on my masters degree and I have had to use the internet all the way through high school, college, and now graduate school. Not only am I accustomed to getting my information that way and the convenience of it. I also have an interest in using it because I can find information on whatever topic I need it for. Whether it be a scholarly journal or a new recipe. Whenever I want to know something, I pull out my phone or my laptop.  

It is very interesting how all of these different factors play into the use of the internet. I had never thought of who has access and who doesn’t until I started working in schools. Anyway, I am curious to know what you all think of the digital divide as it applies to educational attainment. I am looking forward to reading your replies!

Blogging

What is your experience and impressions of blogging? Why do you think people blog? How does it feel to be the person behind the blog? Based on your blogging experience so far, what do you think of using blogs with your own students or for your classroom?

As mentioned in my previous post, About Me, I have zero experience with blogging. However, I think that blogging is pretty cool, especially if you are informed about a topic and would like to share that knowledge with others. Or, even if a person is not familiar with a topic and is using blogging to document their research and share it with others who may also be interested in the same topic. I think that people blog in order to communicate and put their mark on the world in a different way. In my opinion, blogging is a way to get your thoughts and ideas out into the world. It makes communicating easier especially if the blogger is an introvert or doesn't feel comfortable telling others their ideas in person. I am more of an introvert, I have no problem sharing my thoughts in a classroom setting, but it is hard for me to share my thoughts with people that I do not know. It is especially hard for me to communicate my thoughts in the way that I would like to. Therefore, to be the person behind the blog makes me feel kind of empowered. I can say what I feel and how I feel without being nervous and without wondering whether or not it will come out right. Moreover, blogging gives me the opportunity to think about my message before I type it. Whereas, in person you have to reply on the spot. I am also the type of person that has to think about things before I respond. Based on my blogging experience so far, I would like to use blogs with my Math students. I could use it as a semester long project where students respond to prompts asking them to discuss their comfort levels with a particular topic. Moreover, what they struggled with and what did they understand. Or, asking them to reiterate what was discussed in class. Therefore, using it as a study tool. I view blogs on a regular basis regarding many different topics and I can see how blogging will be a great method for students to convey the information that they know. 

About Me

About Me

Hello Everyone! Welcome to my blog! My name is Ayana Ball. I am currently pursuing a graduate degree in Education as well as a teaching license in secondary education. My field for teaching is Mathematics. I am interested in finding new ways to engage my students in Math lessons. I am currently student teaching in an Algebra I classroom. Therefore, I have created this blog as a means of finding and implementing Educational Technology not only in a Mathematics classroom but also in all classrooms. I am new to blogging so this will be an exciting experience for me. I am looking forward to learning as much as I can about blogging and educational technology. I am also looking forward to sharing my thoughts and my ideas as well.