Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, Blogger.com, texting, and e-mail... So many ways to stay in touch with my family, friends, colleagues, students, and basketball teams. I am sure many of you out there remember a time when telephones didn't even have answering machines... If you missed the call you missed the call. Oh how far we have come! As with anything, there are pros and cons to the developments we have seen, but whether you like the changes or not, social media is here to stay. Do you have to participate? Of course not, but tons of people around you are. How has that changed things? Who is there guiding our young people through the ups and downs of it all? I am sure we've all heard some horror stories that involve the use of social media and/or our e-mail and texting. As a computer educator I have chosen to get involved for many reasons. One big one is to stay on the cutting edge so I can help guide the young people I teach. Another reason is it allows me to communicate and share with the people in my education world, whether they are students, parents, or colleagues. With my freelance work, it helps me share my work, communicate with clients, and to reach out to potential clients. Personally, I get to see what's going on with friends, old and new and occasionally I share what's going on with me... Funny thing is I tend to be more of a private person when I get the chance. That's a bit of my wonderful, but shy mother coming through. That and by the time I get home from working on a computer all day, the last thing I want to do is get connecting and check in on people... Anyway, I am sure it is not hard to see the benefits of social media, but we can't forget that what we do and say online will follow us in the "real" world...
So, how has social media and the technology at our fingertips affected your life?
