Post #11: Get "NetSmart" by Harold Rheingold   (from email)

Mr. Rheingold asks us in his book to take the “mindfulness” that we began using in Affordance Analysis, and apply it to how we pursue and take in information from the internet.  He begins by asking internet perusers to follow something similar to Buddhist/Hindu techniques for breathing and meditation.  The intent is to calm the mind and body, so that it can focus and not be distracted by the sideshows of advertising and social media.  Once focused, the peruser must sift through the data presented and decide which is relevant, with a process he calls, “crap detection”.  The interconnectivity of the Internet provides the infrastructure for people to participate in topics on the internet that they deem as relevant, and should they choose, to be able to join in the digital discourse on that topic. Collaboration results as the participation continues to develop and can lead to new social opportunities. So as the peruser navigates their way through the social networks on the internet, they gain a sense of belonging to a particular community.

Personally, I frequently do the breathing techniques to achieve what Mr. Rheingold is necessary to navigate your way through the social networks of the internet, but I use them to focus on my personal priorities in what I need to get done in the near future of my daily routine.  I think that having “Net Smarts” is akin to having “Street Smarts” but applied to the internet.  Growing up in New York City or any other city, you kind of get that as part of your growth process.  So for me this is another application for something that I already do.  I think that Mr. Rheingold has outlined a process that seems fairly intuitive to me.  I avoid the distractions of social media, and frankly don’t want to spend my free time on it.  Now that schools want us teachers to also use social media as a communication tool to parents, colleagues and the local community, I feel some reluctance to use my free time to do that.  It can lock you into these social networks and take away from other things that you might want to pursue.  I’m sure we all one or two people on Facebook, who publish comments about every aspect of what is going on in their lives.  While it may be interesting and okay for them, I’m not willing to spend my precious free time as part of that as a frequent activity. Even though, in some cases, it may prove to my detriment.

As I commented in class, I believe that Mr. Rheingold sees the social networks as something ultimately positive, if you can go through the process of getting“Net Smart”. He sees the milk glass as being “half-full”, while I on the other hand do not want to spend my free time in unending social networks, see it as “half-empty”, and am just glad to have some milk. Got milk? "Sorry about that chief."