internetguideforhighschoolers

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

Bonus: Finishing thoughts

I hope this blog has been helpful, informative, and at least a little fun to read. Hopefully you feel more prepared to take online classes and talk to your parents or guardians about their concerns regarding the internet. Thanks for reading. :)

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

15: Looking forward: What can internet-based research actually tell us?

The internet is still relatively new in terms of scientific phenomena that has been studied. We are starting to get results about the long term effects of it, how it is useful, how it is hurtful, and other things, too. Some people might think that scientists are wasting their time studying the internet. What can it tell us? Shouldn’t scientists be trying to cure cancer instead? The answer is complex. Not every scientist can study the same thing. First, we would not have enough space or agree on a topic for everyone to study at once. Second, not every scientist is trained in the same thing. You wouldn’t ask a microbiologist to study the effects of the internet and you wouldn’t ask an astronomer to cure cancer. Third, there is an important relationship between basic science and applied science.

Applied science seeks to answer a certain question. How do we cure cancer is a question that applied science seeks to answer because it is a prevalent problem in society that we want to fix.

Basic science is studying things purely for gaining knowledge with the potential that it helps us in the future. Basic science might look at how fast dogs can run or how many offspring rabbits have annually. These ideas would help us in our understanding of animals, but they might not answer any burning questions we desperately want answers to.

However, basic science is important in bridging the gap between applied science questions. Sometimes we do not know what we need to study, or we don’t know what we don’t know. By studying microorganisms we might help find new cures and drugs for different diseases, but we might have been studying those organisms simply to learn about them for knowledge’s sake.

Both applied and basic science are important for the advancement of science.

Activity: If you could study one research question or topic what would it be? Would this be applied science, basic science, or somewhere in between the two? Are there any connections to other topics you think research in this area might find?

This is partly why we study the internet, because it is important to do so. People are using it now more than ever, and we want to know what information we can find out.

The internet also allows some research to be done more time efficiently and cost effectively. Researchers can send out mass surveys and questionnaires to get information from large sample sizes. People can complete some studies online in their own homes, so they don’t have to travel to a lab. This can help increase the generalizability of the study, to whom the results pertain to.

What can the internet tell us?

When I explored this topic in my Psychological Effects of the Internet class, I looked at the question “Can Google searches provide data about hidden attitudes and behavior?” I listened to NPR’s (2017) Podcast, “What Our Google Searches Reveal About Who We Really Are.” (I don’t recommend listening to this podcast unless you are willing to listen to possibly uncomfortable topics. They discuss the use of a racial epithet and discuss sex and pornography. They suggest that if you have small children with you, to listen later, but this podcast was intended for an older audience. It may not be appropriate for all teenagers.)

What the podcast discussed was how people lie. We lie to other people. There is a pressure from society to not do embarrassing ot stupid things, although everyone inevitably does them. We want to be perceived in a desirable way. People often want to look like hard workers, creative, kind, open, and like we engage in activities the appropriate amount like going to the gym often, not smoking, and going to the doctor and dentist regularly.

This desire to be perceived this way impacts psychological research and is called social desirability bias. On surveys, researchers want the participants to answer as honestly as possible instead of the way that society tells them they should answer or should be. Psychologists have tried to combat this by making surveys anonymous and now allowing people to answer them online, with extremely limited social interaction. However, people will still lie. We want to be perceived in a certain way because there can be social consequences if we don’t hold up to society’s standards, however, the researchers won’t judge you for smoking or using Facebook a lot. They want to know to look at correlations and relationships.

If people lie on surveys and to other people, how can we conduct psychological research, or research in general? First, there are usually enough people who respond accurately that we can still have valuable evidence from surveys. Second, we can look at correlations based on Google searches.

The podcast mentions a specific example about parents and biased gender roles in their children. When you ask parents if they treat their sons and daughters the same, they will tell you yes, of course. They may think that they treat them the same, or they may know they may be judged if they answer no. However, when you look at Google search data, there is evidence to show that sons and daughters are thought of differently. The podcast mentions that when people Google “Is my son…?” the question is more likely to finish with “a genius” or “gifted.” When people Google “Is my daughter…?” the question is more likely to finish with “overweight” or “ugly.” This indicates that sons and daughters are not actually being perceived as the same. This may have real world impacts on these children. They may grow up unconsciously forced into gender roles assigned by their parents, but the parents might be unconscious about it, too.

The internet allows us to look at correlations and trends that we might not otherwise see. It is important to continue doing research in all areas because that will help us connect the dots to other concepts later.

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

14: Are teenagers addicted to the internet?

In middle school, high school, and college I would always hear teachers and other adults complain about how kids are addicted to their phones, addicted to social media, or addicted to the internet. Teachers would make fun of us for relying so heavily on our phones and the internet, even on laptops, yet they would still be the ones to tell us to write an essay with sources and then not give us time to go to the library to find a book. Many adults worry in good faith, but it can definitely feel uncomfortable when someone tells you that you are addicted to the internet when you don’t agree.

Activity: What are you addicted to on the internet? Think of an app or website you use daily. Try deleting it from your phone and see how long you can go without it. While this might not be a clinical definition of addiction, you can still gain some personal knowledge while engaging in this exercise.

The internet is huge. It is not really just one thing because it is a collective. There are countless things, apps, websites, games, stores, and everything else on the internet, so can you really be addicted to the internet itself? The answer appears to be no.

Think back to the beginning of this blog when you read about the inventions that people feared. I’m bringing this up again. The internet is still relatively new for a lot of people, and the internet has advanced at a relatively quick rate. We went from dial up internet to high speed broadband access in less than 50 years. There are people that are older than the internet that are likely concerned about how fast it is evolving and how we don’t know everything about the psychological effects of it. However, we don’t know everything about anything either. It is important to recognize where their fear comes from, but it is also important to recognize that the evidence is starting to show that their fears are unfounded, at least to some degree.

Professor Morton Ann Gernsbacher mentions in her lecture titled “Internet Addiction” that people have been addicted to things throughout history, and they have been saying new inventions are addictive as well. Novels were thought to be addictive. The telephone was thought to be addictive. Now the internet is thought to be addictive.

Why do we think each new invention is addictive? When things are new we start to see them more, become interested in them, buy them, and then they are popular and everyone is using them. They are new and useful. This makes it seem like people are addicted when really they are just enjoying the new technologies of their time.

Additionally, Professor Morton Ann Gernsbacher also mentions in her lecture that the internet is huge, so it is unlikely that people are addicted to the whole thing. She says it is more likely that the internet is the medium that people use to explore and partake in their addiction. Some people might be addicted to online gambling or online shopping, but those people are not addicted to the internet itself. People could engage in these activities outside the internet, but the internet is convenient, so many people use it for this.

It is a good thing to keep an eye on your internet usage, but if it is not significantly negatively impacting your life like preventing you from eating, sleeping, maintaining friendships, keeping a job, or from going to school you are most likely alright.

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

13: Personality on the internet: Buzzfeed quizzes vs valid personality tests

Activity: Take this personality test (only if you are interested and willing to, of course)

After you are done, what do you think these scores mean? Did you get the results you expected?

You might be familiar with Buzzfeed personality tests. They have some fun ones ranging from quizzes about guessing your zodiac sign or figuring out what type of bread you are based on your personality. If you want to check them out right now, go for it. I can wait.

What is the difference between those funny Buzzfeed quizzes versus the personality test I had you take in the activity above? Can you come up with any ideas?

Buzzfeed quizzes are made for fun and entertainment and sometimes with a little intuition instead of science. You might think being an introvert means you like cats more than dogs, so you get a cat as your result on a quiz like “What animal would you be?” However, these tests are not valid and they may be unreliable, too.

Reliability refers to if a measurement is consistent over time. If you keep getting the same result on a test, it may be reliable.

Validity refers to if the instrument or test is accurately measuring what it was designed to measure. A test that asks you about what music you like probably is not a valid measurement about what type of bread you would be. (Although I am unsure if there is any research about the correlation between music and bread identity)

The personality test posted at the beginning is more valid. There is research done in personality psychology to show support for the “Big 5” personality traits. These traits are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism. These traits are broad categories that have many little behaviors that compose them. For example, someone low on extraversion might prefer being alone but they also might not be talkative. These two things are related but not exactly the same.

The research about the validity of these tests have been done on very large sample sizes, which indicates that it is likely the results are legitimate and not just a fluke.

There is still debate about whether these are the only personality traits across the whole world. Culture can play a role in how the results of these studies apply to other people. Some cultures might prioritize different traits or exhibit them differently. There are also language barriers that make it difficult to ensure that the tests are valid cross-culturally.

Overall, you shouldn’t take Buzzfeed quizzes too seriously. They are entertainment and fun to do when you are bored, but you shouldn’t take anything they say as a scientific indicator of your personality. If you are interested in valid tests, I suggest looking at the ones that assess the Big 5 personality traits and how your scores across them differ.

Why do you think you would get different scores on different tests?

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

12: Is the internet changing the way teenagers develop?

You guardians might be concerned that the internet is rewiring teenagers’ brains. The good news is that the internet is not totally rewiring anyone’s brains. This idea comes from the fear of the internet. You might be sick of hearing this point by now, but the internet really does get a bad reputation and a lot of hate. Also, every single thing you do affects your brain in some very small way. While the internet does make up a part of that, it is likely not affecting your brain anymore than deciding to drink tea over coffee, deciding what outfit to wear, or playing board games instead of video games. Everything has an effect, including the internet, but the internet isn’t completely rewiring your brain.

Parents are often concerned that the internet will take up too much time, distract their children, prevent their children from socializing, preventing their children from getting physical activity, or cyberbullying. While it is understandable that guardians are often concerned for the safety of their children, you can tell them I said they don’t need to worry so much. Many of their fears can be relieved.

I will cite sources I mention at the bottom of this blog post, per usual.

The Pew Research Center released a report in 2018 titled “Teens who are constantly online are just as likely to socialize with their friends offline.” Their report mentions studies and statistics that show that teenagers who use social media are more likely to talk to their friends daily and spend time with them in person more often. Social media provides an outlet for teenagers to gather, interact, and chat with one another. It is sometimes easier to form group chats on Snapchat or Groupme than it is over text. This allows teenagers to talk with their friends, but it also allows them an easy way to make plans to hang out outside of school and social media. Before cellphones and the internet, you would have to call to arrange plans. This was a much harder way to plan a group hang out session when you all have to navigate times. The internet makes it convenient for middle and high schoolers to make plans, so they can spend time together in person but also helps them maintain social contact when they can’t see one another in person.

While social media can be a source of negativity, it is also a valuable tool for teenagers. It helps them stay connected, which is especially important while navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents and guardians should try to worry less about the time their children are spending online, and worry more about talking to them about online safety and how to use the internet responsibly.

Activity: Ask your parent or guardian to do something online with you and maybe even teach them something new. Show them Snapchat or Instagram filters. Teach them a Tiktok dance. Play an online game together. Hopefully this will teach them how the internet can be used to bond friends and family.

Pew Research Center. Jingjing Jiang. (2018). “Teens who are constantly online are just as likely to socialize with their friends offline.”

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

11: Can you actually trust Wikipedia? The answer might shock you!

We need to make decisions every day about where we get our information. The internet is much faster and more convenient than looking up every question we have in a book. Plus, the internet is updated more frequently than books can be produced. The internet is also free. The list of reasons about why we get our information from the internet goes on and on. Where we choose to get information from on the internet is also important. We just discussed that misinformation can spread easily and many popular news sources have done it. Who can you trust?

In middle school and high school your experience with academic writings like scholarly journal articles like likely limited. These sources simply aren’t written for you as the intended audience, but you all need to write research papers and find credible sources. How can you do that? You need to find credible websites, usually, but this can be hard now that anyone can make a website and make it as biased on a topic as they chose.

When doing a research assignment or paper, I used to always hear in high school that you cannot trust Wikipedia. “Don’t use Wikipedia as a source.” “You can’t trust it.” “Anyone can edit Wikipedia.” Yet people would still use it as a source, and we would have to have the same conversation over and over again. But is Wikipedia really all that bad?

First off, if you go to the bottom of any Wikipedia page, it has a list of references and citations. You can use Wikipedia to find other sources that might give you the information you need. While you wouldn’t cite Wikipedia in your paper because of this, it certainly helps you find other sources.

Additionally Wikipedia is surprisingly accurate despite what your teachers will have you believe. Natalie Wolchover writes in her (2011) article “How accurate is Wikipedia?” that it is more than 95% accurate when it comes to academic topics. (Cited at the bottom of this post). They found that pop culture topics are more prone to errors, and I think that this is likely due to the limited amount of academic writing about things like local bands, etc.

In college you will likely have access to databases that provide you with scholarly articles. The general population has to pay to read most of these articles, but in college you can read many of them for free through your university. One of my classes took advantage of this. I took a class about feminist artists, which can be sort of a pop culture topic especially if the artists are newer. Our final assignment for the class was to pick an artist and edit their Wikipedia page to make it better. We were able to help Wikipedia have better articles because we have free access to scholarly articles that talk about the artists and their work. Clearly my professor understood the value of having accurate Wikipedia pages.

If you provide poor sources or don’t cite something, Wikipedia will not keep your changes up for long. It is naturally self correcting, but also more accurate than we usually give it credit for.

While you might not get to cite Wikipedia as a source in your research paper, consider asking your teachers if you can write it down on a smaller research assignment or paper outline. Wikipedia is often good for finding simple biographical information for people like age, date of birth, and number of children, but it can also give you a brief description of scientific theories and phenomena.

If you have an open ended final project in college consider asking your professor if you can edit a Wikipedia page

Activity: Try to find a Wikipedia page that you might be interested in editing. You might not be able to find any great sources to actually edit it right now, but look to see what needs to be done. Also consider watching tutorials on how to edit Wikipedia pages to see how much work goes into it.

Wolchover, Natalie. (2011). “How accurate is Wikipedia?” Livescience.

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

10: Attention spans, goldfish, and misinformation

“Humans Now Have a Shorter Attention Span than Goldfish”: But do we really?

The “too long, didn’t read” version of this blog is, no. Humans don’t have shorter attention spans than goldfish. I don’t want to spread misinformation, so I was not going to make you read through the whole post in order to find out.

There were a lot of popular press news articles circulating around 2014-2016 that claimed that humans had a shorter attention span than a goldfish. However, these were all fake news. Fake news is often difficult to spot because the idea is that the authors and publishers want the “news” to go viral. They can get money the more clicks they get from ads and traffic to their site. Also, some authors are just misinformed. While it is not always intentional, it is still definitely bad to spread misinformation and fake news.

The reasons why this story gained so much popularity are because we feel like we can relate to this story and it sounds concerning. We like to hate on the internet, as mentioned in many of my blog posts. We fear that it is doing something drastic to us, when in reality, that does not seem to be the case. We also often feel like the internet and our phones are distracting us more. Because we can relate to this idea of being distracted and having limited attention spans, we feel like this news might be true.

However, almost all of the news articles that mentioned this claim never linked to the actual study that was supposed to support this claim. Some of them mentioned a study that was done, but when you looked up that study, there was limited information about how and if it was even actually done.

Also, it is very difficult to measure and determine what the human attention span is. There is no evidence currently that shows that our attention spans are changing.

If you see this claim in the future, you should not believe it right away. Read the article, see if they link a study, read the study is possible, and then determine if it may be true. Popular press articles have to make research findings more accessible and attention grabbing that what the research articles often say.

Activity: Think of another questionable claim or news headline you have seen lately. You could even think of a Facebook post that has been widely shared. What would you do to investigate if this claim is true or false? What would you say to people who share and post these claims and misinformation?

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

9: Is the internet changing your motivation? Or is your motivation changing your internet use?

I know a lot of people feel like the internet is distracting them, but one way to combat this is to look at our motivations for why we use the internet. Huitt’s (2011) article (cited at the end of this blog) mentions different types of motivation for doing things, which I will summarize below.

Stimulus-Response: responding to a stimulus (a trigger, a cause that made you do something)

Social: maintaining social belonging and acceptance

Biological: having to do with biological needs like homeostasis, hunger, thirst, or involving stimulation for the senses.

Cognitive: figuring something out, learning something, solving a problem

Affective: Helps with emotions, usually seeking out positive emotions and decreasing negative emotions.

Conative: relating to goals or achievements

Spiritual: connecting yourself to purpose, philosophy, and/or religion

For my Psychological Effects of the Internet class, we had to fill out a motivation diary. We recorded every time we used the internet until we reached a certain number of entries, and wrote down the time we did it, what we did, and what the motivational factors were. Most things have multiple motivations but there is usually one or a few that dominate.

Activity: The activity for this blog is also a lot of the content. I think to get a picture of how motivation and the internet are related, this activity is very useful.

Try to record every time you use the internet for at least 20 entries, but it would be even more interesting to see if you could record every time over the course of the day. Even if you record just the activity you did, you can fill out the motivations later.

I will provide an example that I had in my diary that relates to each of the kinds of motivations.

Stimulus-Response: My phone buzzes when I get a Snapchat and I instinctively look at the noise. Since I am already distracted, I check what the message was.

Social: When I miss my best friend, I message her.

Biological: When there is too much silence, it can stress me out because I need stimulation. I listen to music because of this.

Cognitive: I look up the names of movies that I forget or who acts in them.

Affective: When I am sad I watch cookie decorating videos.

Conative: My goals revolve around school right now, so I often check my email.

Spiritual: I use a guided meditation app to practice mindfulness.

Huitt, W. (2011). Motivation to learn: An overview. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University.

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

8: Is social media making you angry?

The answer is possibly and it's likely! Many people talk about why social media is bad, and parents especially are concerned about how toxic of an environment social media has become. Their concerns are not unwarranted. I mean, look at the last blog post about cyberbullying. Obviously social media may be a place for toxicity.

However social media is probably also making you happy, too, and I’m not just talking about how it is addictive and keeps you temporarily satisfied while mindlessly scrolling through post after post. I’m talking about emotional contagion.

My Psychological Effects of the Internet course discussed emotional contagion which is the idea that you start to feel and express the emotions of the people around you and the people you interact with. This includes who you engage with on social media.

I also took a Psychology of Human Emotions class which discussed this same idea. Humans naturally will mimic the expressions of people around us, which is a way for use to have empathy and bond with other people. We do this innately. Next time you are around someone with a particular facial expression, try to draw your attention to your face to see if you are making a similar expression.

How does this work on social media if you aren’t with them in person? Firstly, many people still post pictures of themselves online. We usually don’t post pictures of ourselves crying, keyword usually, but we often post neutral or happy looking selfies with smiling faces or funny filters. We still may mimic the facial expression we are seeing. Also, we read posts that are emotionally charged throughout the day. On any given day this might maintain pretty neutral or even generally happy because people often post about their successes and things that make them happy. It may average out because your friends might be having a great day, your family member may be having a bad day, and everyone else is just sharing memes. However, when something particularly emotionally salient (important) arises, this may change.

Consider the 2020 election. This was a very emotionally charged and heated election. If you weren’t on social media at this time, the summary of it is that people were getting in arguments, belittling the other sides, and just generally complaining and getting in fights. This was a lot of negativity no matter what side(s) you were on.

Imagine this. You are in a content and calm mood. You get on Facebook and notice that your cousin and your grandmother got into a Facebook fight about the election. They are calling each other names, dragging other family members into it, and just not getting along. You can handle one fight though. You might not think that you care. Then below that your friend from high school makes a post that says “If you don’t vote for X then unfriend me.” (Where X is just an example candidate.) You notice another friend from high school comments and they start talking about how it is stupid that someone would unfriend someone over politics. Further down you see your personal beliefs being called stupid and people with your ideals being harassed. Eventually you would likely start to feel frustrated, upset, angry, or sad. You would start to feel negative from all the negativity being spread even if you didn’t post anything or get into an argument.

While I tried to give a more relevant and real world example that hopefully a lot of people could relate to, this emotional contagion can be applied to happiness, as well.

As I am posting this blog it is graduation season and it is starting to really feel like spring and summer (at least where I am from). People are sharing images of them in their cap and gown, sharing pictures of beautiful flowers, sharing stories about their achievements, and congratulating others. This often makes me happy.

Next time your guardians tell you that social media is negative and toxic, tell them you are making the world a better place by posting positive things and maybe encourage them to do the same.

Activity: I have two for you. Create a mood tracker. Before you go on social media, record your mood. After you are done also record your mood. After a week or two see how your social media is changing your mood. Consider adjusting your habits. Maybe this is using social media less or maybe it is following more positive people. Number two is to post something that you think would start a positive emotional contagion.

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

7: Socializing and Cyberbullying

Young people are supposed to be good at socializing and using the internet right? Does that mean we can skip this blog because you should already know everything you need to know? While you might feel comfortable with your social media use, I am going to talk about a different type of socializing: cyberbullying.

In this course I learned from my classmates that schools have a wide variety of the anti-bullying programs they use. Some schools do nothing. Some put up posters. Some have assemblies. Regardless of what schools do, cyberbullying is still an issue.

Cyberbullying comes in many forms from commenting mean things on someone’s post, starting rumors, or making an anonymous account to harass other people. Maybe you already know what it is and feel like this isn’t going to be helpful, but hopefully I can teach you something new.

Cyberbullying is thought to be connected to interpersonal aggression, which is a type of hostile behavior and feelings that someone has towards another person which usually results from a threat to self esteem. We focused on this in my psychology class. Bullies usually hurt others because ruining other people’s self esteem can help boost their own self esteem. They might feel powerful or better than someone.

So how does this relate to the internet? Well, bullies are likely to bully people no matter where they are. In person bullying has been a thing for years and years, and the general trend I see is that schools are not doing enough to stop it. Bullies are likely to harass people wherever they have the opportunity to do so. An important part of bullying is weighing the risks and the rewards. Bullies often want to increase their self esteem, but bullying obviously comes with other consequences, like getting in trouble at school or at home. People use the internet as a medium to bully like they have used almost everything else. The internet also provides more anonymity that bullies can leverage to decrease their risk. However, their plans are not foolproof. Many social media sites are blocking and deleting accounts that get reported for bullying. Also, while you might remain anonymous to the typical user, if you create enough of a problem for the law to step in, they may have access to things like your IP address and might be able to find out who you are.

Now that we see why people might bully others via the internet, we can start to stop it. Bullying teenagers is a problem that leads many teenagers to suffer from depression or suicidal thoughts. It makes their mental health poor, and now that we carry phones with us almost everywhere, it is difficult to escape.

In the meantime some things you can do are to block and report users who are harassing you and others. Contact the social media site directly and tell them you expect them to do something about the bullying you see on their platforms. Know that it is okay to take a break from social media and delete your apps if needed.

One thing I highly recommend is talking to your school about bullying. Administration doesn’t have as much knowledge about the bullying climate as the student body does. You all have important perspectives that are often overlooked because adults often think they know everything. What works in one school might not work in your school. While it is important to consider the evidence about what works to combat bullying, like increasing empathy, it is also important to consider the school culture and include the voices of who it is affecting most: you.

Activity: come up with a plan to either prevent bullying or the consequences for someone repeatedly bullying another student.

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

6: Things going viral and what this means for you

Many of us know about how things can go viral overnight. People will post a Tiktok video, go to sleep, and wake up with hundreds of thousands of views. Facebook posts will circulate to the wrong people. Messages between friends can be posted all over Snapchat. People love drama, and we apparently love making things go viral.

When I was in middle school, we all loved this Youtube video “Charlie Bit My Finger” (which I will post after this blog). We played it all the time in class. We quoted it. It still remains a vivid memory for me of middle school. Would it surprise you if I told you this post wasn’t meant to go viral? The person who posted it was a mom who just wanted her family to have easy access to a video of her children. She did not think or intend for it to gain any traction.

Activity: What videos or posts have gone viral in your time in school that seems to be an integral part of your friendship. Do you think you could make a viral post?

A lot of us love the idea of fame and popularity, but I want to caution all of you before you try to become the next internet sensation. Things may intentionally or unintentionally go viral, so whatever you post has the chance of being seen by thousands or millions of people. If you are under 18, you should be being extra careful on the internet and staying safe. You may not want to post something that would go viral if it includes your full name, where you live, or other identifying factors like your school.

Going viral is not always a good thing. There are many instances where going viral hurts people and impacts employment or other opportunities.

One example we talked about in my Psychological Effects of the Internet was the “Cool Wand” story. There was this college student who told his boss that he had a family emergency he needed to go take care of back home. This student was supposed to work on Halloween, a notorious holiday for partying on college campuses, but this is when he went home for his “family emergency.” What he actually did was attend a costume party on campus. He was dressed as a fairy princess and holding props including a wand. Someone took the picture and posted it to Facebook, where people started to like and share it. He didn’t post it, so he did not intend for this to become popular. It was eventually shared by enough people that his boss saw it and commented “Cool wand” and learned that the student was not at his family emergency.

You should be careful about what you post on the internet. It is not uncommon for people to make a joke in poor taste and have it brought up years later, especially if they become a celebrity or other sort of public figure.

There are also stories about people posting racist things on their personal Facebook accounts and universities rescinding their admission offers. Also, many people have different opinions when they are 13 and legally allowed to have social media accounts compared to when they are 18, and your opinions will probably change form when you start college to when you finish. You don’t want to lose your opportunity to go to college because of an ignorant post you made when you were 16.

It is also worth considering that it is likely that your future employer may look at your social media accounts or Google you to see what they can find. You might lose your opportunity because of something you have posted, even if it isn’t racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise discriminatory. Just by looking unprofessional online may impact your chances of getting a job. There is debate about whether this is fair or not, but for the time being, it is useful to consider your online presence.

Activity: Go through your social media accounts and change your privacy settings, if you want to. You may want to look through any old posts you may have that may come across the wrong way and delete or privatize them.

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

5: Emailing your professors

Imagine this. It’s your first week of college. Your professors are experts on what they’re talking about. Some of them have PhD’s, some of them have published works, some of them are just intimidating. You need to contact them when you realize your high school never covered how to write an email to your teachers. Maybe you didn’t email your teachers. Maybe they were relaxed and didn’t care. Maybe you just talked to them in person seeing you usually attend high school 5 days a week. (College classes usually meet 2 or 3 times a week, but it depends on the class and it can range from 1 to even 8 times a week in certain cases)

Here is a list of tips on how to email your professor, instructor, or TA that I learned in my class and from personal experience.

Use proper spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization

Proofread your email at least once. Then do it again.

Use your university email account. Your professors often get a lot of spam and they might not see the Yahoo email account you made at 13 in their inbox

Use an informative subject line - similar to the point above, your professors get a lot of spam. If they just see “Question” as a subject line they might dismiss it. It is best to be specific such as “PSYCH 532: Question about the Term Project” which says which course you are in, what you need, and what your concern is about. Some professors have a desired format in their syllabus, so check for that.

Write the body of the email first and then fill in the “To” section. This prevents you from sending the email too early.

Call your professor by their desired name, title, and pronouns - most of them will talk about this on the first day or in their syllabus. Also, don’t just use “hey” as your greeting. “Hello” or “Dear” are better options.

Pronouns: some professors are starting to leave their pronouns in their email signature or their syllabus. Check these places first if you are unsure of what pronouns they use. Also this applies to Mr./Ms./Mrs./Mx.

Title: While I am using “professor” as a catch all for any teacher just for simplicity’s sake, not every teacher you have is a professor.

Most of them don’t use teacher as their title.

Most of the time you don’t use TA as a title either. You would usually use Mr./Mrs./Ms./Mx. and their last name or if given permission their first name. Most TA’s have a more informal relationship with you compared to you and your professor, so they will often allow you to use their first name.

Instructor is a good title to use if you are unsure exactly what someone’s title and pronouns are. It is respectful and broad.

Professor is a title only used by certain people in academia. It is not a title everyone has because it is a distinct position.

Dr. is a title typically used by people with a doctoral degree. Some prefer you say “Dr. (last name)” instead of “Professor (last name).”

Name: Only use their first name if they have given you permission to do so. Some professors don’t care and will tell you this, but you don’t want to come across as disrespectful.

Don’t rant or whine. If you are upset about something, you should usually take time to calm down instead of sending an email right away.

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

4: Educating Via the Internet and Online Classes Pt. 2

Last time we talked about learning via the internet, but this blog will shift directions slightly and talk more in depth about educating via the internet and online classes.

When I was in high school they talked to us about what jobs we would be good at, what colleges may be a good match for us education-wise and financial-wise, what classes we need to take in high school to prepare for college, and how to apply to college. They never discussed what college would actually be like, so I want to give a little information on what my experience was like. Please keep in mind every college, every student, every major, and every experience will be different, but this will maybe keep you from going in blind.

Traditionally, in lecture you sit in a large lecture hall, full of students. Depending on the size of your major and your college this can range from 20 students to 300+ students. Some larger classes have discussion or lab sections where you have a smaller group of people to work with and ask questions to your TA, teaching assistant. These lectures are different from high school. Some professors don’t require attendance because it can be difficult to track who attended and who didn’t. It is up to you to attend the lecture ready to learn. Some professors are strict and will penalize you for using your phone in class, but a lot of them simply do not have the time to yell at all the students. It is up to you to be respectful of other students by not being a distraction by using your phone or being noisy and also respectful of your professor by taking them seriously when attending their class.

Professors often talk about how students today are distracted. We can’t seem to put our phones down, and we get easily distracted. Many students use their laptops in lectures for taking notes and then get sidetracked with online shopping or something else. Would it surprise you to know that professors have been complaining about their students being distracted since before cellphones and the internet were invented? They used to complain about us reading the newspaper in class or even going to the bathroom too many times.

One big thing you should take away from this blog is that people like to complain about the same things throughout history.

Some people think that learning on your own terms can help reduce distractions since you are not in a lecture hall with 100s of other students doing their own things.

There are also many other issues that college students face. Tuition and attending college is expensive, but you can usually find that out before you apply. However, something that surprises a lot of first year students is the cost of supplies and textbooks specifically. In high school they had us borrow textbooks. In college you usually have to rent or buy them.

Activity: Think about the books you use in your high school classes. Consider the textbooks for science, history, and math. Consider what books you read in English. Do your electives require textbooks? Consider if you took a history or science class on a college campus. How much do you think one textbook costs?

Textbooks can easily cost up to $200 or $300 or more for one textbook.

Was that shocking? Some are definitely cheaper and you can usually find options for pricing, but it isn’t abnormal to spend a few hundred dollars a semester on textbooks alone.

Most classes in college require a textbook, sometimes more than one. Although this can depend on your major. Art classes usually require less textbooks, but art students must also buy their art supplies. More hands on majors will usually require less textbooks, but you still usually need to take general education credits in college that require them.

Another thing to note about in person classes is that by design they are synchronous, and remember our discussion last time about why asynchronous might be better.

So how are online classes combating issues that college students face?

Online classes, like we discussed, are often asynchronous, but not always. This allows students to work alone and on their own time. It is easier for them to be productive and in charge of their distractions.

Ebooks are often more accessible in online classes because you are not physically going anywhere, so you don’t need a physical textbook. Ebooks are often cheaper because you don’t need to pay for paper and ink to print them.

Online classes that are made to be online, instead of in person classes that were forced to be held online because of the pandemic, often have a different structure and assessment style. Exams during in person classes are proctored and taken very seriously. This is difficult to do online, and there is heavy debate about using online proctoring software that records students in their homes. Also, a lot of college classes have a handful of exams (usually 2-4) throughout the semester and maybe one other smaller assignment that make up your grade. This means if you miss an exam or do poorly on one, it can often be difficult to bring your grade up. Instead many online classes move away from this and towards an assessment style that encourages engagement with the material throughout the semester via smaller assignments. This is less stressful for students because missing one assignment is not that big of a deal compared to missing an exam.

Also, this assessment style change allows for a more flexible late work policy from professors. A lot of professors in college won’t accept late work or a missed exam without reasonable and documented excuse, like an hospitalization or significant family emergency. It is always worth communicating with your professor because many of them are willing to work with you, but when you have 200+ students, it is hard to proctor another exam. Online classes are less likely to have this problem and it is easier for an instructor to grade a 200 word assignment late than it is for them to make and proctor another exam.

Many online classes also allow you to work ahead to increase flexibility and minimize the need that you have to turn something in late. If you know you will have a busy week with projects and exams, you can work ahead in your online classes to make if so you don’t have to worry about them for that week.

These are just a handful of reasons why online classes are convenient and combating the issues many college students are currently facing.

Online classes are not without flaws though. Students need to be more self-disciplined to keep up with the work because you need to watch lectures on your own time. It can help to develop a routine to make sure you are on pace. You also don’t get as much social interaction, which can be hard on students. Another issue is cheating. If it is unfair to proctor exams online, how do you ensure no one is cheating and that the exams are fair?

Education is constantly changing and adapting to students’ needs. Sometimes that change is slow or frustrating, but good things can often come of it.

I would highly recommend trying an online class when you get to college. If you take an asynchronous one, you may often feel like you have more time because you get to choose when to work on it. I felt that way. Hopefully this blog makes you feel more at ease in online classes.

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

3: Online Classes

While there are many ways to learn and things to learn on the internet, like by watching Youtube tutorials for example, I want to focus on online classes.

If you were in school in 2020 or 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a good chance you had to deal with some sort of online education. Online classes provide a way for students to complete school work at home or take classes that their school does not have a teacher for. When I was in high school my school offered Spanish classes online, and by taking them I didn’t need to take as many semesters of foreign language when I went to college. Online classes provide flexible options for a variety of circumstances.

Many people -students, parents, teachers, administration- don’t like online classes, and they often think that online classes are inferior to in person classes. This sounds like what we talked about in Blog 2 about parents fearing the internet. We like to think the old school way of doing things is the best because that’s the way it has always been done. We also find these ways more prestigious, as if getting an online education isn’t just as difficult as getting an in person education.

What do you think? Have you taken online classes? Did you like them? What would you change? Would you want to take any in college?

Activity: What classes do you think would be better in person or better online and why? If you were teaching one of these online classes, what would you do to make it better?

I spent the last year of my college career in online classes besides for my art class, which occasionally met in person. The college classes I took online were much better than the high school classes I took online. The formatting and style of online college classes was different than the high school ones I took.

Online classes come in two forms: synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous means you have to log into your course website and watch lectures at a certain time because it is a live lecture or discussion section you actually participate in, in real time. Asynchronous classes means you do not have to meet at a certain time and you work on material at a time that suits you. There are still usually due dates for assignments in asynchronous classes but you get to choose what time of day you do them instead of having to get up at 8 am to watch a lecture.

It is also worth noting that a lot of middle and high schools start around 8 am, so you might be used to it and think 8 am classes would be fine. However, when most people get to college they find that it is difficult to get up this early and prefer classes in the late morning or afternoon. My class taught us that in general college students are at their most productive in the evenings, hence why so many of us stay up until midnight working on assignments. On the flip side, many professors are morning people, so they often prefer to have their classes in the morning time slots. This is just a general pattern, and people will not always follow it. If you are a morning person now just be aware this may change at college.

A lot of professors have hesitancy about moving their classes online, but a lot of them were forced to do so during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Professor Morton Ann Gernsbacher’s (2015) article “Why Internet-based Education?” she discusses five reasons she elects to hold her classes online. Those five reasons are that online classes can help optimize performance, better mastery, deepen memory, promote critical thinking, and enhance writing skills. (I am writing this blog for a class Morton Ann Gernsbacher teaches, for clarification.)

The next blog will be very similar to this one because we will discuss educating via the internet, and I will provide more detail as to why online classes are beneficial.

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

2: Why do my parents fear the internet?

I think that most teenagers and young adults know an older adult who hates technology or the internet. The “get off my lawn” trope has been replaced with “these kids and their cellphones.” I have heard a thousand excuses for hating the internet: it makes kids lazier, they only get exercise with their thumbs, they don’t know how to do anything by themselves.

Has it ever occurred to them that maybe they’re wrong?

I was talking with my grandma over winter break, and we were talking about how crazy the world has become. She said, “I think the internet is evil and that has something to do with it.” I couldn’t believe it. She thought the internet was evil even though she plays Words with Friends and has gained close friendships through that. She stays connected to family on Facebook. She messages me on it daily. How could it be evil?

Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon stance. Throughout history people have feared basically every single technological invention for one reason or another.

Can you come up with any examples of things that may have been feared and why?

In my class we learned a long list of things that were previously feared, but now that time has passed they are accepted. This includes but is not limited to: novels, bicycles, recorded music, the telephone, the written word, and chess. Which one is most surprising? Novels and bicycles were thought to be bad for women. People thought recorded music would kill live music. People feared that society would become addicted to the telephone. Ancient philosophers feared that if people wrote things down they would never remember anything. Chess was thought to destroy your mind, and now we consider it a brain game.

Do you know anyone afraid of chess or novels? Now those are regarded as something sophisticated and smart people activities to engage in.

Why does this matter? It might seem funny that your grandpa refuses to get a cellphone, but eventually this may be you. You might fear something simply because it’s new. Additionally, many teenagers deal with guardians who are concerned about their internet usage. If your guardians fear the internet, consider talking to them about these past inventions that were feared before. If they don’t come around, tell them to read my blog and maybe we can show them how the internet can be extremely useful.

Activity: Pick a useful but common invention that people may have feared at one point and come up with ideas about why it was feared. Also consider if there are any things you have feared for simply being new (maybe they reanimated your favorite childhood show or changed the style of classes at your school).

[internetguideforhighschoolers]

1: Welcome to the Internet (and My Blog)

Hello! Welcome!

This is a blog dedicated to high school students and middle school students as a sort of guide to the internet infused with knowledge from my PSYCH 532: Psychological Effects of the Internet course and my own personal knowledge.

In my course I learned that a lot of middle and high school students are not taught valuable skills regarding the internet. A lot of people refer to Millennials and Gen Z as “digital natives” meaning that because we grew up with the internet and technology, we should be good at it. That isn’t true. How can we be good at something if people don’t teach us?

By accessing my blog that means you should already know some basics of the internet. But do you know how to stay safe? Do you know why your parents or grandparents might fear the internet? Do you know how cyberbullying impacts students and why it is so popular? These are just a few of the questions we will consider if you keep reading.

One useful skill we can look at right away is making a good screen name. You may already be familiar with screen names and usernames. If you have a Tumblr account you probably already made one. Your email address also functions as a sort of screen name.

Usernames can be fun. They give you an alias and a persona to be online when you want to protect your identity. It is no secret that people can be dangerous on the internet, so you might want to keep your name out of things. That is where usernames come in.

While some people suggest keeping your name in it, other people suggest keeping your name out of usernames because it may impact safety or privacy. Use your judgement on this one.

When making a proper username consider your interests, hobbies, and lifestyle. Do you like video games? Music? A certain animal or gemstone? Maybe you know a different language and want to include a word you like. Make it personal to you and something you’ll remember. You can include numbers if someone already has the name you want, and this can make it more personal, too.

When I did this, I chose the name booksandtea17 because I am often reading a book with a cup of tea in hand and I graduated high school in 2017.

Activity: create a unique screen name for yourself or share the meaning behind what you chose for your Tumblr.