The GradLab

               This week, I learned the terms “Digital Natives” and “Digital immigrants.” Though a millennial, I struggle to classify myself as a Digital Native or a Digital Immigrant. I struggle with social media applications and prefer not to use them because they consume a lot of my time and leave me feeling drained. Being a "Digital Resident/Native/Netizen" or a "Digital Immigrant/Visitor" is not solely determined by age. It depends on one's access to technology and one's comfort level with using it. Many YouTubers, Instagrammers, and content creators from Generation X or early Millennials were not initially equipped with advanced technology or gadgets. Nevertheless, they have become proficient users, often driven by social or economic motivations.                In addition, I have also become familiar with how social relations have changed over time, leading to glocalization, mean...

Digital technology has brought a significant gap between traditional educational methods and the needs of today's learners.  Today's learners, known as "Digital Natives," have grown immersed in digital environments, fundamentally altering their cognitive processes and learning preferences. Digital Natives support fast information, multitasking, graphics over text, and instant gratification. Conversely, "Digital Immigrants,"  who adopted digital technology later in life, maintain habits from the pre-digital age, such as sequential processing and step-by-step learning. This difference poses significant educational challenges, as teachers who are Digital Visitors often find it difficult to engage Digital Native students with traditional methods. To address this issue, educators need to adopt new teaching practices and content that align with the needs and preferences of Digital residents. This involves implementing faster-paced, multitasking-friendly approac...

Trends have shown that social isolation has become alarming in American society. With internet usage, humans have become more comfortable with machines and less with humans. Moreover, the percentage of Americans with a friend as a confidant declined from 73% in 1984 to 51% in 2005. Because of internet use, the community is falling apart, leading people to lose contact with genuine in-person relationships as they become trapped in superficial online connections.  There are several reasons why many commentators believe that ICTs cause social problems. However, there are flaws in the notion that the Internet is a separate medium: It assumes that people lead separate "virtual" lives distinct from their everyday real-world lives. However, this is rarely the case. Except for some intense gamers studied by Turkle, online and in-person interactions—and lives—are intertwined. It assumes that in-person encounters are the only meaningful form of social connection, overlooking that email...

General Terms Platforms for general masses: Facebook, Friendster, Hi5 LinkedIn: Professional YouTube: Photos & Videos Blogs: Wide range of audience Microblogging:   Provides real-time updates Honeycomb of Social Media The article provides a honeycomb framework containing seven social media building blocks to address the lack of understanding about social media and its various forms . These blocks, when taken individually or together, are helpful for the managers to make sense of the social media ecology while understanding their target audience and their engagement needs. 1.  Identity: Identity strategies could be real or virtual; some focus on self-promotion (Facebook) vs self-branding (LinkedIn). People reveal different identities depending on the context of different social media platforms. Maintaining a balance between sharing identities and protecting privacy is essential in selecting social media tools. Otherwise, the imbalance may lead to cyberbullying and off-...

Last year in the summer, I heard about a few YouTubers/TikTokers with massive fan following. "They must be creating valuable and interesting content as they have such a massive fan following,"  I thought. So, I decided to watch their content.  After watching a few videos and reading the thumbnails of many videos, I found nothing valuable and interesting in their content. It was nothing more than filming their routine daily lives, including shopping, a day out, dining out, a day in a college/school, someone's wedding, house-warming, thus showcasing their personal lives and materials.  Notably, these creators predominantly earn in foreign currency, particularly dollars, which incentivizes them to continue churning out such content. The disparity in earnings between those operating in local currency and those with international appeal is striking. Despite occasional criticism for oversharing personal details, they amass millions of views. Recently, I learned that there is a ...

I wrote my first blog a few years ago, in 2016 when I reflected on my teaching experiences in relation to parental interactions. While working in a private school, I found that parents put so much pressure on young minds while ignoring the importance of play, and interpersonal connections while making children just inclined towards STEM fields.   I published my blog in a competition and secured a second position. Through the Web-Based Learning 2/0 course, I hope to regain my confidence to write more.  Sourced from:  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/parental-pressure-how-expectations-shape-childrens-lives-om-annamraju/