Response to Chapter 6

I had some trouble accepting the ideas in this chapter. I may have already made up my mind before I even read it, though. In the second sentence of the chapter I read this: "[...] our relationship with the internet [...]" (Richardson 89). This made me think: are our relationships with the internet, or are they with the actual people who sit behind their computer screens throughout the world? Farther down I read this: "[...] we have many friends out there just waiting to be found and connected to [...]" (89). This quote made be consider many students with whom I went to school with, and the many students I have come into contact with in the recent past. Many of those students don't have their love and belongingness needs met. As a teacher, would I be setting these children up with a false hope, a false mindset for meeting their essential needs?

In contrast to my anti-social web comments above, I easily accepted what Will Richardson had to say at the end of chapter 6. He notes that we can use social networks to benefit our own learning (100). I completely agree with this. As long as social networks are used to meet students' knowledge needs, and not their love and belongingness needs, they are very beneficial. Moreover, they should be used to enhance students' knowledge.