By Kim Gillingham
I will admit that I grew up in a time without the impact of social media. I remember my first phone that was no longer attached to the wall and the excitement of being able to move 10 feet from the phone dock. This experience is most likely true for many adults today and yet, for those of us responsible for the education and well-being of youth, we are required to take a deeper dive into social media and the effects of technology.
There is no doubt that there are immeasurable benefits of technology on our society. I am able to sit here and type at a faster speed than ever before, spell check, make it fancier with AI/ChatGPT and send it out to the masses in a matter of minutes but, as a teacher, I have my concerns. Recently, I was involved in running high school papers through a software program to identify the use of ChatGPT and/or plagiarism and, to my surprise, most of them came up as highly influenced. When asked about it, the students all stated that the programs wrote better than they could. It sounded more intelligent and got them the higher grades. When I asked adults about this they didn’t disagree. They too relied on software that “communicated” better than they could and often struggled to identify a student’s original work.
But what does this say about the confidence of our students to use their own voices? As students are developing, growing and finding their own vice, isn’t it imperative for them to develop personal skills, authentic relationships and the ability to critically thing? It can be hard enough to remain confident and true when influenced by assessments and peers, but extremely challenging when faced with global opinions that can be cast as quickly as a simple push of a ‘Like’ button.
It’s perhaps too early to know the long-term effects of technology on our children but as a parent and teacher, I don’t want to just passively wait to find out. Additionally, I don’t want to be like a dinosaur and prevent children from gaining the skills they will need for their future. And so, I try to balance technology with real time to think. By teaching students how to explore their own ideas, think critically about information and be open to opinions, I am hoping to encourage confidence and the development of their own voice. But I’d really like to open discussions around this and hear other educators’ opinions. By sharing our thought and ideas, perhaps we can bridge the gap between technology and authenticity and hear each other’s true voice.
