Hello, TODAY go onto this site and begin to watch the program :
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/
Please start to answer these questions to the best of your ability:
1. What is your initial reaction to the program? What did you like or dislike about it?
2. At home, how often are you online? At school, how often are you online? What
percentage of the time do you think you spend: Doing homework? Chatting with friends?
Updating your profile? Playing games? Surfing/looking up stuff you’re interested in?
Downloading music? Uploading/downloading videos?
3. In the introduction to the program, the narrator says: "This is Morris County, N.J., but it
could be anywhere in America. Here, like in the rest of the country, some 90 percent of
teenagers are online, a number that’s still growing." From what you saw in the film, is
Morris County indicative of a typical American community? Why or why not? Is it like your
community?
4. One teacher in the program says, "We almost have to be entertainers." If we think of an
entertainer as an actor, musician, dancer or someone who performs, in what ways is your
favorite teacher like an entertainer? In what ways is he or she unlike -- or different from --
an entertainer? What are the positive and negative consequences of expecting teachers
to be entertaining?
5. One student claims he "never reads books" but relies on summaries and annotated
notes he finds on Web sites. He confesses that he feels guilty about this, stating, "I feel
like I kind of cheated it." Should he feel guilty? Why or why not?
6. One teen describes MySpace and Facebook as fun because they are "a section of the
Internet that’s your own." How is a profile -- an online space -- similar to and different
from other parts of the world that are your own, like your bedroom, school locker or diary?
7. The program describes social networking sites as places where kids post pictures,
accumulate friends, post messages to others and describe themselves. What other kinds
of things do teens and young adults do on social networking sites that aren’t mentioned?
