SOCIAL MEDIA...beneficial or not?

How many times do we hear how dangerous Social Media is to a human's brain? How many times have there been cases of cyber bullying, paedophilia cases and just downright negative perceptions? How many of us jump on our laptop, iphone or ipad after a long day to escape? Too many times! Countlessly, we pin point the negative things and completely outweigh the positives, then again, that's just life isn't it? The Adelaide Advertiser, however, has argued that in fact Social Media will help young teacher's cope. I came across this a few weeks ago after surfing the net and was instantly drawn to this article...facebook....helps teachers? I couldn't really process this idea, especially after there being so much negative attention drawn to this social site. International Research, shows that 25-40 percent of teachers left their profession after their 5th year, so a study was done to try and understand this and it was found that those who feel restricted in their workplace, and are banned from using social media tend to be quite stressed and cannot cope. Understandably at first this didn't make all too much sense to me, however once I continued reading I was able to place myself in their shoes and see things from a whole different perspective. After extensive interviews and some case studies teachers claimed to be turning to other teachers for their ideas and as escapism. It is being used as an outlet, sharing their teaching practices with other workmates and therefore receiving feedback and support in the social community; ultimately pushing them to stay in their profession. This really shocked me, yet also impressed me. Too many times we are quick to judge and don't notice the positive and beneficial factors social media can have on individuals. Council of Education Associations of SA executive director Phil Callen said: "To give the quality of support needed to develop and sustain a young teacher's career, other things are also needed - school-based support and professional associations." In the end, if this is going to make teachers feel more comfortable in their professional environment, what's the harm? Our teacher's are our mentors, our guiders, and our role models. Without teachers we don't have schools, universities, and essentially an education. The future of our children are in their hands and whatever outlet it is they need to eliminate stress and anxiety in their workplace, we should support them. Aside from the grotesque cyber bullying we too often witness and the wrong use of this popular social site, maybe facebook isn't so bad after all, and as a society, we should think about the benefits it can place, rather than the common negatives. I'm in no way supporting some actions that I've seen on this site, but in saying so I'm a massive advocate in always being able to gain something and that we can always be taught a lesson. Maybe this lesson is, teachers are humans, and they too have a life outside their profession. Let them live, let them learn!

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/teaching-the-facebook-generation-20110227-1ba19.html