A Positive Spin

When I first considered what to look deeper at this semester choosing to look at new media effecting socializing, I have to admit that I was more of a proponent of it, thinking new media would be more detrimental to our social being. Last week we touched on cyber bulling. Now certainly this would be evidence to fuel my argument on the negative side. While it certainly is a huge issue along with all that surrounds it, I saw a positive light out of it. We familiarized ourselves with the story of Megan Meier and how she met and made a good friend online. While this turned out in the worst possible way it could in that the “friend” was a hoax, it made me see how social networking online can be very positive for many pre-teens and teens to develop friends. Megan had trouble it seemed making friends in school and in her neighborhood. Like many teens, she faced all kinds of pressures, one mostly of not fitting. However, online she did. She met a boy and likely strengthened her socialization skills in conversing with him and getting to know him along with respecting herself more. I think it is important to put the bad outcome of this aside and look as to how socializing online can be a huge plus for all of us today. As this blog listed on the New York Times under Health shows , it's safer than we think and actually, quite beneficial for acquiring social skills.

I know I personally was a bit shier in high school than perhaps most. And I won’t deny it. I am very anti-social today. Ask my husband. I am not crazy about going out or being around crowds and prefer to sticking to a close circle of friends that I’ll actually go out with to dinner or a movie. However, I love being online and chatting with friends and emailing. And I question if I would have had that outlet growing up, how different would I be? Would my shyness have been minimal? Questions I’ll never be able to answer. I know today though with the world of chat and email and being online, I am a lot more outspoken than I would have ever dreamed of being in high school.

This seemed to be the same for Megan. She was her true self online, confident, respected, fun-loving and outgoing. I think if we would have viewed Megan in a face to face social environment, she would have been quite different. I know I am. And I think a lot of people are. I took an online course last spring and almost instantly you could tell a difference. A majority of the students I felt spoke their mind and were quite active in participating on the discussion boards. We more easily left comments for one another. The comments were still respectful and everyone was kind to one another, but when you read some of the posts, you could easily sense that had this been in an actual face to face class setting, a lot would have went as not being said.

I think we can even see this in our online classes for this class through online chat. Ours have gotten a bit out of hand at times, and when you think of that, you know those things would never be said in class. Even so, the discussion moves a lot quicker and more input is given from all members of the class when we are in the chat setting.

In these two examples, I think it is safe to say that individuals, may it be a teen or college student or professional, communicate easier online. We can speak out and express ourselves in a way I doubt any of us ever thought possible. We are more comfortable in our skins and confident in our thoughts. We respect ourselves more as well as those around us in the online world (for the most part). Check out this video about the idea behind an online learning community. It really spoke to me about the importance of being able to socialize now online in addition to the “real” world.



Having the ability to communicate more online has opened up a whole new world, one especially beneficial to all us shy ones of society. So while I started this blog more set in how online communication would be bad for us in learning to socialize and nurture our social skills, I can now say I’ll argue against that. I’ve been a supporter of it for years and simply never realized it or how it was helping my own quest in being more social. In closing, I found a video done by an individual who I think has flourished in the online world. It is a bit long, but I think his message really wraps this up in how it is easier to socialize online.