Of course the internet impacts children...otherwise I wouldn't know how to blog!

• What's your opinion of the impact of the Internet on kids?
• As a future teacher, do you worry about it?
• Do you have a personal Internet-related story to share?

The internet has all but replaced traditional face-to-face socialization. Not only can you meet people with little to no effort, but there is absolutely no need to go out of your way to have an awkward meeting with those same people. I say awkward because students are not growing with the ability to approach other students anymore. According to people born before the late 80's, it used to be traditional to make friends by seeing them and getting to know them in person. Now, children are not learning how to socialize in that way. It is all about the persona that they create on the internet, and whether or not someone likes your profile page. Although I do agree that it is an outlet of self expression, I find it disturbing that you can judge someone solely based on text and pictures. The magic of human interaction is completely lost when you cant make eye contact or shake hands with someone that you are meeting for the first time.
However, if this is the way the world is heading, it is silly to think that we can discard technology as a "fad". If technology really does enable kids to, for example, bypass math computations like addition and subtraction, should we be forcing them to do it manually? Or should we focus on teaching them the technologies that do it for them?
I worry about whether or not teachers are still reaching students at all. The rise of ADD may not just be a coincidence; children are distracted by their cyberworlds, a world that never shuts off. I also cant help but worry that I will not fully understand the technologies that future generations will grow up in. Though I feel I can navigate technologies that students use today, certainly more and bigger technologies will appear soon enough, ones that I am not equipped to maneuver. Even if I researched these burgeoning tools often, I would still not be able to keep up with the advances.
I hope that I can stay up to date long enough to understand, relate to, and help my students learn in an ever-changing world.