The ethical challenges of social media – A reflection

After discussions in various comments, I feel I need to explicitly address Net Neutrality and why it’s not necessarily a straight forward issue:

Loosely based on article here and Negroponte’s example

This difference in opinion is evidenced in the different approaches adopted by the USA and Canada respectively. In a comment on my post, Mark included an interesting article which instead focused on Net Neutrality in the EU and we discussed the role the UK could play in the future.

I also enjoyed an interesting discussion with Jordan which provoked thinking around the possibility of an IPV6 mandate and the effect this could have on Net Neutrality. This led to further research where I came across an interesting blog post here.

I found this topic the most interesting so far, owing largely to the diversity in blog posts covered. I received a comment on my post from Charley who discussed the recent Facebook stream of a murder. We discussed the ethical issue involved in taking down such videos from services such as Facebook and questioned why it took so long to do so. I think it is also important to note the tweets I observed at the time which warned me not to watch the video, showing how social media can also be used ethically to help others.

With regards to comments on other blog posts, Cherie raised an extremely interesting point discussing how social media can present a distraction in the classroom. I wondered how she felt a potential increase in social media use educationally could have on those already marginalised in society.

Similarly, Charley focused on the issues surrounding social media in education. Charley specifically identified the dangers children face when using such technology and we discussed the possibility of teaching children the dangers of social media through PSE lessons.

All in all this topic has really evidenced the diversity of ethical issues social media brings but also the power it brings to resolve such issues.