Unintended Consequences – Time for a paradigm shift
On 2 November, I gave a talk, “Unintended Consequences” at Gnomedex. I spoke to the need to recognize that “always-on” isn’t necessarily always good. I went on to describe the train-wrecks which occur when technology which is created for good, is used in a manner, unintended. I then shared the stories of 36 young people who we lost in 2010 due to being overwhelmed, both online and off. I spoke of these previously in my piece, Bullying: the 34 we lost in 2010 to Bullycide, a piece I wrote hoping that the call to action would be heard. But here we are in 2011 and we continue to lose too many youth. I truly believe it time for a paradigm shift. We need to teach *pro-social* skills starting at pre-school and continuing through their senior year of high school. Not only will our youth be enabled to co-exist in a collaborative way, they will be productive students, which means we’ll have productive citizens in the years ahead.
I invite you to take 30 mins and listen to my talk. Then, please come back and share with me your thoughts on how we can raise $6 per child to get a program such as Social Smarts into our schools and make that paradigm shift.
Christopher,
I am always thankful, my dear daughter made sure I sat down with you after a day at the McAfee RSA after party some three years ago. Such a small interaction and I yet since that time you have permeated my thinking on social matters more than once. Thank you!
Thank you Bobbi Michelle for you kind words. I fear we will run out of time.
Christopher:
Your talk was excellent, even better than at Mayo. As a father, I also found it quite anxiety provoking because I am very concerned about my kids’ health and well being from online interactions.
I agree that we have to assert ourselves as parents and as citizens. Our ability to communicate online has unleashed our darker side without the social constraints we have evolved offline. I am not sure how you establish governance online when we choose communities of interest that may offer no protections.
So why do we go then? I suggest that in addition to arming our children with skills, we should also commit to developing online communities that we want them to grow up in. That requires effort, money and resolve. But what choice do we have?
There has been growing conversations about online digital rights. I do not pretend to have the answers, but I would suggest we deserve a Bill of Rights. Here is my version on a website I built, but I’m sure it can be improved. http://bit.ly/roJxj8
I do hope more people will take time to see your talk, Christopher. I’ve shared it and hope we can get the skills and momentum needed to protect our children and our society.
Matthew,
Thank you for your kind words, and sharing your thoughts on a Bill of Rights. I appreciate your taking the time to view the talk both here and at Mayo. I’m hopeful that we can generate a nuclei of interest in getting on the front end vice continuing to invest after the fact **solutions**