One of my beliefs about mind, social media and learning in society that was reinforced this semester is the role that the “dark side” of social media might play in educational settings, and that it is important to address these concerns if social media is to be incorporated into formal education. Privacy and personal data are important considerations for youth in today’s society, and understanding how to manage an online presence is a vital skill. Too often these concerns are overlooked when learning with social media is reported in the academic literature; however, Krutka et al. (2019) examined this issue head on. Their practical suggestions make a useful starting point for educators with a healthy skepticism of social media use in education looking to incorporate social media in their classroom.

One of my beliefs about mind, social media & learning in society that was challenged this semester by the readings (and assignment) was the ability to use social media to one's professional advantage. I had not previously used this or any other professional networking site as I did not see the advantage of being connected in this way to other people professionally. Through the creation of my LinkedIn profile, I was able to connect to a couple of acquaintances that I had made through the projects of which I was able to be a part. My ability to keep up to date with their projects via their posts to LinkedIn allowed me to show them my interest in their work when we met face to face. This very practical piece of social help along with the point that Greenhow & Gleason make, “[i]ncreasingly, employers in various fields seek employees with social media savvy,” (2014, p. 1) have lead me to consider keeping the LinkedIn profile up to date past the semester.

One of my beliefs about mind, social media & learning in society that was reinforced this semester by the readings was my feelings about the importance of web literacy as a critical (and 21st century) skill of the current generation of students. Rich claims, “[w]eb readers are persistently weak at judging whether information is trustworthy” (2008). With our social media not providing any filter to the content being pumped to us as it would hurt their bottom line (our wonderful friends at Facebook), it is more important than ever to be able to know what is merely sponsored content and what can be relied upon as fact. Treating this analysis of media as a critical literacy instead of something that our students view and participate in outside of the classroom will go a step toward being able to have a more culturally and politically conscious and aware society.