Ashley Zizich Senior Seminar Thurlow and Bell Article September 18, 2017 I found the article by Thurlow and Bell interesting in the aspect that I agreed and equally disagreed an equal amount with that was written. While the article starts out by targeting “young users” of social media and what they face not only in the educational system but also while preparing for the work force. At times, I found myself thinking that old users could relate the same as well. Not only are the youth plagued with advertisers and marketers telling you want you want and what to do in media, and telephone, but the older users are as well. My point is, there are a good majority of old and young users of social media that get the same results. The article then spoke of how young people are “endangering the very fabric of civilization” with their use and reliance upon social media. I felt this to be rather the opposite. Isn’t the youth of today taking to social media in order to enable themselves and their peers, and to engineer change? At least this is what I see. I do understand that youth can be wasted on social media in the respect that all they may do is look at memes all day, or take to social media platforms to complain and not do anything to change things. There is a mix of both negative and positive. Different discourse can be negative, but that is a sweeping generalization that it is all negative. The examples of the essays written in text shorthand were used as a way to point out not only that there is a somewhat creative aspect to that type of lingo, but also that youth need to be taught the difference between being professional and social. It made me wonder if all school systems are teaching this. Are kids really being taught in a way that makes them think that writing an essay in text lingo is an acceptable form of writing in an educational atmosphere. If these essays were in fact done without the creative prompting to do so, then I call fault on the school system rather than the overwhelming media youth is subject to. It is also a negative to social media and media in general. It has trained not only youth but older people as well to take things at face value. While it was explained in the article that we know no information as to whether these students were prompted to write in this way, the social media took to these articles with outrage claiming that students were being ruined by technology. As human communication becomes more “technologized” does this in fact make people more employable? I often think about this. Can I really get looked past for a job because I have not blogged? Is this generalization just a tool for employers to use to be selective in who they hire? I am not trying to take away from the fact that yes, technology helps, and blogging is a means to showcase your ability to communicate. I do know people have been hired purely on the basis they can blog. Does this skill really make them more marketable? What if they can blog but they do not possess other marketable skills? I see both angles on this subject, but it is hard for me to be swayed one way or the other. I feel that I may be at a disadvantage on this because I am an older student, in my mid-30s, and I have not been as exposed to technologies as my classmates have, thus making it more difficult for me to grasp certain technology. I often think that maybe there does need to be a shift from the emphasis of technology. I don’t believe there will be though. The point in the article that talks about youth being able to communicate “properly” because they are so embedded in technology, in my opinion is irrelevant, and brings me back to my argument that if this were true, then the school system is partly to blame. Again, I am aware that technology has and will continue to play an important role, but if a student cannot learn how to write a proper paper or answer questions on a test in full sentences but rather text lingo, then there is something more going on in the system, and at home, that needs looking at. I understand youth will always look to social networks whether it be for support, help, or homework. I’m not sure that because of this, we need to shape educational policies around the need for digital access and social inclusion. I feel pretty “old school” for stating that, and perhaps I am. Perhaps I don’t want to think that my children must be reliant on social networks to feel included or supported. I’m having a hard time coming to grips with this one.