Module 1 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment by AKETH

IO2 Training Material THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SUPPORT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THIS PUBLICATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE CONTENTS WHICH REFLECTS THE VIEWS ONLY OF THE AUTHORS, AND THE COMMISSION CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY USE WHICH MAY BE MADE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN

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Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01-KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

Log on Back to Life is an Erasmus+ KA201 project co-funded by the Turkish national agency that received funding for 2 years starting in 2017. The aims of the project are to support project partners in dealing with a horizontal effect for all countries, the Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). The main priority arises from the contribution of the project to support trainers in tackling the phenomenon of internet addiction. By creating a more attractive career guidance perspective we are promoting educational quality in teaching in favor of the main actors who are the students. In parallel, we emphasize on the integration of ICT tools in teaching to understand the usefulness of new technologies by the students in a rational way. The objectives and results of the Log on Back to Life are in line with the priority of the EU for effective investment in quality education and training. In conclusion, Log on Back to Life will support the early treatment of symptoms that lead to long-term dependence of the internet through prevention and early intervention. Through the material and methodologies will be produced during theprojectthenaddressingoftheschool drop outs phenomenon will be possible by demonstrating to students the positive impact of the Internet and methods to avoid the consequences arising from this.

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SUPPORT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THIS PUBLICATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE CONTENTS WHICH REFLECTS THE VIEWS ONLY OF THE AUTHORS, AND THE COMMISSION CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY USE WHICH MAY BE MADE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN

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Module 1 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment Contents

keywords 1.1 Internet Evolution and its Applications in Everyday Life

4 5

From ARPANET, the prehistoric ancestor of the INTERNET, to the first social network

A new way of communication

1.2 Internet & Social Networks

1.3 Human Behaviour in Real and Cyber Life

Main Activities of the Teenagers while Online 1.4 Practice

21 22

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Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01-KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

Duration

5 hours

[ 2h theory / 3h practical applications ]

Aims of the module 

To provide school teachers with comprehensive information about the Internet and the virtual social environment and social networks  To help secondary school teachers understand the human behavior in real and cyber life  To help secondary school teachers understand teenagers’ main activities while online  To present secondary school teachers some practical applications and case studies which can help them better understand internet and its effects on human behavior

Knowledge

Skills

Competences

Teachers will be able to

know the evolution of the internet and its virtual social environment have deeper knowledge about human behavior in real and cyber life have better knowledge about teenagers’ main activities while online

identify the main explain how internet points of the and virtual social evolution of the environment affects internet human behavior and their daily lives distinguish human predict teenagers’ main behavior in real and activities while online cyber life define teenagers’ main activities while online

Teaching/Training Methods

Lecture, group discussion, task groups, drama (role playing), individual work

Materials

Projector, flipchart, markers, post

keywords 

ARPANET



Social networks



Inter-networking



personal exposure



media psychology



visual alphabet



online environments



virtual communication

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The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment 1.1 Internet Evolution and its Applications in Everyday Life

From ARPANET, the prehistoric ancestor of the INTERNET, to the first social network The Internet, as we experience it today, has formed through the work of dozens of pioneering scientists, programmers and engineers who each developed new features and technologies that eventually merged. Its origins date back nearly 40 years, with the U.S. militaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s funding of a research network named ARPANET in 1969, which was the first workable prototype of what can now be recognized as the Internet.

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Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01-KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

Image 1 ARPANET 1969-1977, expanding but still unknown to the general public (Navarria, 2016)

Since then, the Internet has undergone more than just a name change. The number of computers connected to the internet has grown exponentially, while the number of users has risen from a handful of computer scientists to 1.5 billion consumers. The networkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reach has expanded beyond the United States to every corner of the globe. Back in 1969 when Arpanet was created, it connected five sites: UCLA, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, the University of Utah and BBN. In 1983, the U.S. Defense Department spun-off MILNET, which was the part of Arpanet that carried unclassified military communications. Arpanet was renamed the Internet in 1984, when it linked about 1.000 hosts at university and corporate labs.

ImageC2 Paul Baran and different OF types of networks. (Eagar, 2017) THE EUROPEAN OMMISSION SUPPORT FORthe THE PRODUCTION THIS PUBLICATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE CONTENTS WHICH REFLECTS THE VIEWS ONLY OF THE AUTHORS, AND THE COMMISSION CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY USE WHICH MAY BE MADE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN

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But Arpanet had a problem: it wasn’t mobile. The computers on Arpanet were gigantic by today’s standards, and they communicated over fixed links. Paul Baran, a computer network pioneer, was trying to figure out how to build a communication system that might actually survive a nuclear attack. A network that is not centralized but distributed. So, he had this idea of breaking messages up into blocks and sending them as fast as possible in every possible direction through the mesh network. Therefore, he and his team had built what eventually became a nationwide experimental packet network. The number of computers connected to the internet has grown dramatically from the network’s humble beginnings, when it connected four computers at university research labs. Today, the internet links more than 440 million computers directly, and millions more have internet access through private addressing schemes. Internet usage has exploded since 1992, when researches first started tracking this statistic. Although estimates vary from the Internet having 1 billion to 1.5 billion users, everyone agrees that it has the room for growth as the worldwide population tops 6 billion. That leaves more than 4 billion people around the world without internet access today. Worldwide, over 50% of the population already has access to the Internet, with many already using high speed connections. According to data from the International Telecommunications Union, in 2016, 3,408 billion people were using the internet worldwide (Image 3) and this number raised to 4,021 billion users in 2018.

Image 3 Key statistical indicators for the internet, mobile and social users around Europe and the world (We Are Social, 2018).

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Log-on Back to Life / Out of these, about 3,196 billion also use social networks. 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 Moreover, 5,135 billion people around the world own a The Internet and the Virtual Socialsmartphone, with a 68% penetration rate. Environment

Image 4 Internet users by world region since 1990 (OurWorldData)

A European-level analysis places the continent on top, with an Internet penetration rate of 76%, way above the global average. When it comes to using social platforms, the European citizens account for 49%. What is amazing, however, is the mobile devicesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; penetration rate, with more smartphones in Europe than the actual number of inhabitants. Regarding all the aforementioned, the internet is expected to lead to changes in how people communicate, how they work, and how they spend their leisure. The evidence suggests that the internet has blended into the rhythms of everyday life: it is used at work, in schools, in universities and hospitals. It is used for a wide variety of purposes, such as surfing for information, playing online games and chatting.

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A new way of communication The evolution of the Internet has been greatly influenced by virtual communication, with dramatic changes in how humans socialize and interact. In terms of user number and accessibility, the most influential means of virtual communication have been Yahoo!, Messenger, MySpace and Facebook, which brought about a new era in communication. As a means of communication highly favoured by the younger generations, Facebook has brought about important changes in the structure and content of the written messages, with emphasis being placed on images rather than on the written word. This theory on Social Media has been analysed and discussed by Horia Bădău, which focuses on the following aspects: ► The written alphabet has come to be replaced by the visual alphabet: messages have come to change the structure of their signification and mostly rely on images to convey meaning. For example, texts often overlap images on Facebook to convey meaning. ► Messages associated with images are usually emotional: the author predicts that, in the future, the visual alphabet will completely replace the written alphabet, a moment when our actions and thoughts will be translated by emotion; ► Our vocabulary is decreasing significantly: since we use images to communicate, our vocabulary will diminish to the extent that we will use a limited number of words to express ourselves.

Image 5 From Hieroglyphics to Emojis. (Medium, 2017))

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Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

The most interesting effect in our everyday communication is the one from the Emojis1,

the visual system of communication that Image 6 “The emoji news” at The Late Late Show

originated in Japan

and is incredibly popular online, according to Professor Vyv Evans, a linguist at Bangor University, it is the fastest-growing language, while there are claims it could at some point replace language. “As a visual language emoji has already far eclipsed hieroglyphics, its ancient Egyptian precursor which took centuries to develop,” says Evans. There are already tv shows presenting the famous “emoji news” where guests of the show try to figure out the newspapers headlines when presented through emoji icons. Furthermore, there are special columns in popular newsfeed portals concerned only to this new way of communication. The comparison between emoji and hieroglyphics, its ancient Egyptian precursor is inevitable (Jones, 2015). The Egyptians invented a superb artistic style and powerful mythology – then stuck with these for millennia. Hieroglyphs enabled them to write spells but not to develop a more flexible, questioning literary culture. A pictorial alphabet can be really useful when practical issues need to be described, its range of expression is limited. In other words, there are harsh limits on what you can say with pictures. The written word is infinitely more adaptable.

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Nevertheless, although in February 2018 there were 2,784 emojis in the Unicode Standard, previous research showed that users employa limited set of facial expressions and smiles in particular (An, Li, Teng, & Zhang, 2018;Park, Baek, &Cha, 2014; Stark & Crawford, 2015).

Image 7 The bar graph of the top emoji used by English speakers

The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment 1.2 Internet & Social Networks How different our life would have been if there was no Internet? Whenever any information is needed, first reaction to most cases is: “Google it”. Any desired information, from movie tickets to history facts, is displayed to the screen displays in milliseconds. The Internet has made the world a small place and living life easier.

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Log-on Back to Life / There is such a plethora of uses that the Internet is valuable for, 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 in daily basis. Only a few of them are described below. The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment ► Information

There are news portals, social networking websites, websites that provide information and websites of various businesses and organizations. These websites are updated frequently to provide information to the user. Everything out of anything can be found on the web just by browsing through a few websites. E-mails, blogs, IM chat, social networking websites and communication software are available for sharing any information among users. Access to information is cheaper and easier and this is Internet’s most common use. ► Business & Advertising Almost all the businesses these days have websites, through which they promote and advertise themselves. Nowadays it is considered as an important medium in any marketing campaign.

Image 8 Some of the most popular platforms for taking online courses

There are many businesses that depend on the Internet for their survival like stocks and call centers, to name a few (Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2009).

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► Education Web-based learning has made learning content much more freely and instantaneously available to students who can download course notes and readings with a single mouse click. Wikis, delicious, YouTube, podcasts and other Internet tools can be considered potential applications for teaching and learning. From students to professors and researchers, everyone is using the Internet for any reason from applying to courses and checking results and schedule, to connect with a research community or double check data, and to the very popular MOOCs that have appeared massively the past few years.

► Communication & Networking The use of the Internet for networking is very popular among all age groups. There are many social networking websites that are used by people and entities for communication. These websites provide an effective and easy platform that facilitates interaction. It is widely used as a mean of communication that applies through networking websites, chat websites, blogs, etc. Through these websites one can share material like documents, photographs etc. with friends and family. While it is widely used by job seekers for job applications and job searching. Facilities like video conferencing have made it possible to conduct interviews online.

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Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

Image 9 . Today, there are now almost 600 social networking sites on the Internet (Image from KnowEm)

â&#x2013;º Social Media Social media is a computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas and information and the building of virtual networks and communities. By design, social media is internet based and offers users easy electronic communication of personal information and other content, such as videos and photos. Users engage with social media via multiple devices via web-based software or web application, often utilizing it for messaging. Social media originated as a tool that people used to interact with friends and family but was later adopted by businesses that wanted to take advantage of a popular new communication method to reach out to customers. The power of social media is the ability to connect and share information with anyone on Earth THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SUPPORT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THIS PUBLICATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE CONTENTS WHICH REFLECTS THE VIEWS ONLY OF THE AUTHORS, AND THE COMMISSION CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY USE WHICH MAY BE MADE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN

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(or multitudes of people) as long as they also use the same social medium. Globally, there are roughly 3.196 billion social media users. According to the Pew Research Center, social media users tend to be younger (some 90% of people ages 18 to 29 used at least one form of social media), better educated and relatively wealthy. The United States and China lead the list of social media usage. ► Entertainment Another popular use of the

Internet

for

entertainment. Facilities like listening to online music (Spotify, Apple Music,

Pandora),

downloading music (iTunes) and movies (Netflix, Hulu) provides a platform for entertainment. There are plenty of other ways through which you can entertain yourselves. You can play online games, view sports matches, or watch videos of your choice. It is a trusted means of entertainment for these kinds of purposes and is extensively used for the same. ► Other Popular Uses: It is popularly used for banking. Almost all the banking transactions are possible through this medium. Apart from these common uses, it can also be used for shopping. Online shopping is very popular among masses and on the Internet you can buy anything and get it delivered at home. There are also many people who use it to work from home. These were some of the main common uses and it has made our life easy by facilitating so many uses. But it is also prone to attacks of many kinds that threaten safety. To protect the Internet from these THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SUPPORT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THIS PUBLICATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE CONTENTS WHICH REFLECTS THE VIEWS ONLY OF THE AUTHORS, AND THE COMMISSION CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY USE WHICH MAY BE MADE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN

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Log-on Back to Life / attacks we should all use it carefully and also protect ourselves from 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 various privacy intrusions. Its use as a tool for communication will The Internet and the Virtual Social always remain its most powerful use. The array of uses of the Environment

Internet is vast and with the progress of technology new uses will get added to the list of uses continuously.

Advantages and disadvantages of social networks

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Advantages and Disadvantages of social networks ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

Global connectivity These portals allow us to keep in touch with our friends and family when distance would otherwise impede our relationships

Personal exposure As long as a userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal information is freely available, s/he will be at risk of losing privacy over personal data and will also be at risk of identity theft

Virtual groups These groups will be a source of information and a milieu to express our opinion on topics of interest

Reduced direct interaction While being a convenient communication environment, available to all devices, users have a tendency to use it excessively, which is detrimental to direct interaction and verbal communication

Easy access to information Social networks are an additional means of gathering information on a variety of topics

Lower self esteem Especially with the young, it is possible for them to self-evaluate according to the number of likes they get on Facebook, and thus submit themselves to a false reality

Freedom of expression Although social networks have imposed strict operating rules, each user can manage their accounts independently, allowing them to upload information of any kind, photos of different content, announcements and opinions about the most controversial issues in everyday life, as long as the image of another person is unaffected

False information False user profile information or online content can be extremely present and promoted, with the disadvantage that some of this information cannot be verified

Along with the general advantages outlined above, it is important to consider the benefits of social networks for education. RÄ&#x192;zvan THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SUPPORT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THIS PUBLICATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE CONTENTS WHICH REFLECTS THE VIEWS ONLY OF THE AUTHORS, AND THE COMMISSION CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY USE WHICH MAY BE MADE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN

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Log-on Back to Life / Nicolescu, a Romanian anthropologist, stated that social networks 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 have a potential to bring people together rather than set them apart. The Internet and the Virtual “TheirSocial role is primordial, and it is only now that we begin to realize Environment

this. The vast majority of young people I worked with in southern Italy are reading their news on Facebook. […] For them, as for many

adults who have participated in our research, social networks are extremely important, and that is why the role of these networks should not be diminished or faced with prejudice, but instead must be thoroughly studied and understood”, he says. In the United Kingdom there are many school initiatives to integrate existing online media (webpages, school blogs, electronic catalogues, parents’ feedback forms) with social networks. Considering that educational staff and parents use social networks, specialists believe that there is no serious reason of not using them to facilitate interaction to raise the overall level of education. However, there is this major downside of technology development that is the Internet Addiction among the young. The bulk of research points to the fact that the Internet addiction phenomenon is a contemporary reality. According to the literature available, there is a strong connection between computer game addiction and Internet Addiction, especially with the younger population who is more prone to embracing novelty and is also more vulnerable.

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In this context, the concept of addiction can be recognized to following behaviors: ► excessive Internet and new media use can generate addiction among diverse population categories; ► international research points that the younger population is at higher risk of computer and online game addiction; ► computer and online game addiction mainly manifest psych affectively through frustration, dissatisfaction, lack of self-trust, loss of personal control and development of antisocial behaviour.

The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment 1.3 Human Behaviour in Real and Cyber Life

The spread of the Internet and its social component especially has had a major impact on how we perceive ourselves and the others. If the ‘60s television was considered a second-hand reality, we have nowadays assigned media psychology to a field of science to study the way in which our physical environment has been “expanded” artificially by the cyber-environment. Even if we partially avoid the activities associated to it, it is unlikely that all of what it has to offer will be eluded: we may not be using Facebook, but in all likelihood we use a chat app or we do our shopping online. At the same time, a platform as large as Facebook will allow for research on the impact of the Internet and of social networks on the human psyche.

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Log-on Back to Life / Social networks have a stronger influence on the younger generation, 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 and, while their life experience is limited, their expectations regarding The Internet and the their Virtualown Social existence might develop unrealistically: they are influenced Environment

by what others post on social media, their friends’ photos and messages induce them to believe that their lives are less interesting as these photos carefully select one’s most appealing life moments (holiday photos, outings, parties etc). In turn, the complete picture of our personal lives reveals good and bad days, moments of boredom, difficulties in school and in our family life. Whenever the young place their personal real life against the one carefully illustrated on social media, a sense of frustration and low self-esteem inevitably builds up. This permanent comparison between our own existence and others’ generates maladaptive behavior and feelings among teenagers and youth: discontent, sadness, boredom, apathy, despondency, loneliness, self-isolation etc. It is important for adults to be aware that technological evolution has brought about irreversible changes and that these need to be integrated into professional and educational contexts. A thorough approach to communication and interaction in the virtual environment should not be separated from the advantages and the disadvantages that social networks pose. All aspects of life are variously affected while being online. For example, what is more easily perceived, today’s social life has been affected by social media. And while, as described above, there may problems raised when comparing online with real life, on the other hand lonely individuals are more social when online. Loneliness has been associated with increased Internet use (Morahan-Martin and Schumacher, 2003). Lonely individuals may be drawn online because of the increased potential for companionship, the changed social interaction patterns online, and as a way to modulate negative moods THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SUPPORT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THIS PUBLICATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE CONTENTS WHICH REFLECTS THE VIEWS ONLY OF THE AUTHORS, AND THE COMMISSION CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY USE WHICH MAY BE MADE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN

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21 associated with loneliness. Online, social presence and intimacy levels can be controlled; users can remain invisible as they observe others’ interactions and can control the amount and timing of their interactions. Anonymity and lack of face-to-face communication online may decrease self-consciousness and social anxiety, which could facilitate pro-social behavior and enhance online friendship formation.

Main Activities of the Teenagers while Online Internet use, and the use of digital media in general, is thoroughly embedded in children’s daily lives with the majority of children going online every day or almost every day. The trend throughout Europe has been for children to start using the internet at an ever younger age (Ólafsson, Livingstone, Haddon, 2014). Internet access has also been diversifying with access via mobile devices becoming more common. Still, the most common place of use is the children’s home. Teenagers are spending more than one-third of their days online. Many parents believe their teens are too attached to their phones, maybe even addicted. In a surprise finding, a new report from the Pew Research Center shows that even teens think they have a problem. In this section we are going to analyze how the teenagers spend their time online. ► Social Media It is no surprise that the vast majority of European teens are on social media. It is interesting to see just how much social networking is the part of modern teenage lifestyle.

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Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

22 Image 10 Usage of social media among teens

Almost half of teens ages 13-17 in Europe are online “almost constantly”, and it’s a good bet that most of that time online is being spent with social media. So which platforms figure among teens’ favorites, and how have those changed over the years? Until recently, Facebook had dominated the social media landscape, but it is no longer the most popular online platform among teens. Today, roughly half of Europe’s teens say they use Facebook, notably lower than the shares who us YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat. This shift in teens’ social media use is just one example of how the technology landscape for young people has evolved. Most notably, smartphone ownership has become a nearly ubiquitous element of teen life: 95% of teens now report they have a smartphone or access to one. These mobile connections are in turn fueling more persistent online activities: 45% of teens now say they are online on a near-constant basis.

Image 11 Facebook is no longer dominant among teens THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SUPPORT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THIS PUBLICATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE CONTENTS WHICH REFLECTS THE VIEWS ONLY OF THE AUTHORS, AND THE COMMISSION CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY USE WHICH MAY BE MADE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN

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23 ► Games Video games are a unique form of entertainment because they encourage players to become a part of the game's script. Although video games have been available for more than 30 years, today's sophisticated video games require players to pay constant attention to the game. Players engage on deeper level—physically and emotionally—than people do when watching a movie or TV. Today 95% of teens in Europe play video games, and sales of games are growing. The domestic video game industry brings in nearly $12 billion a year. This popular form of media has both positive and negative effects on children. The most widely acknowledged "positive" impact is that video games may help children improve their manual dexterity and computer literacy. Ever-improving technology also provides players with better graphics that give a more "realistic" virtual playing experience. This quality makes the video game industry a powerful force in many adolescent lives. When a video game is “pro-social” and rewards players for building a town or helping others, children tend to show more empathy and helpfulness in their daily lives, according to a 2014 study by Douglas Gentile, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University. However, studies also show that video games with violent content are linked to more aggressive behavior in teens. This is a concern because most of the popular video games contain violence. Part of the increase in aggressive behavior is linked to the amount of time children are allowed to play video games—and daily media use by children is increasing significantly. A 2010 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that youth age 8 to 18 devotes seven-and-a-half hours a day to entertainment media. THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SUPPORT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THIS PUBLICATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE CONTENTS WHICH REFLECTS THE VIEWS ONLY OF THE AUTHORS, AND THE COMMISSION CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY USE WHICH MAY BE MADE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN

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Log-on Back to Life / Less than half of the kids surveyed said their parents have rules about 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 the shows and games they can watch or play. The Internet and the Virtual Social In interactive video games, players are encouraged to identify with and Environment

role-play their favorite characters. Players move up in game levels as their character masters skill and wins. In a video game about stock cars, winning may mean winning the race. But in many of the popular games, players move up levels by winning fights or battles. Players directly benefit from engaging in acts of violence. Gentile & Anderson (2003) state that playing video games may increase aggressive behavior because violent acts are continually repeated throughout the video game. This method of repetition has long been considered an effective teaching method in reinforcing learning patterns. Research has also found that, controlling for prior aggression, children who played more violent video games during the beginning of the school year showed more aggression than other children later in the school year. (Pediatrics, Nov. 2008) ► Educational Purposes Today’s students integrate technology into all aspects of their lives for multiple purposes, particularly socializing, entertaining and shopping as well as doing homework by using the Internet. Consequently, in the education field, attention has turned to integrating technology into the curriculum. Students highly refer to access and use information technology to help them with their school work. According to studies, students highly prefer to access and use information technology to help them with their school work. Google and Wikipedia dominate the sites accessed; other pages are visited very rarely (Ólafsson, Livingstone, Haddon, 2014). Most pupils copy from the internet and use a variety of strategies to cover up their plagiarism. In addition, the THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION SUPPORT FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THIS PUBLICATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE CONTENTS WHICH REFLECTS THE VIEWS ONLY OF THE AUTHORS, AND THE COMMISSION CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY USE WHICH MAY BE MADE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN

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internet plays a vital role in their communication with classmates and friends. They see a clear relationship between being able to access information through information technology and their achievement in research assignments and projects. Moreover, with the rapid spread of technology, distance learning and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) like Coursera and Edx have gained significant attention in recent years. Especially MOOCs, which their basic concept is a structured academic/technical content that is accessible online for free everywhere. It only requires access to the internet and a computer or a smart device (smartphone/tablet).

Risks of internet use among teenagers and where to encounter What is mostly considered to be the main risk of Internet use for teenagers is giving away personal information that alone cannot be considered as harmful but it is behaviour likely to lead to risks. Seeing pornography online is the second most common risk at around 4 in 10 teenagers across Europe while seeing violent or hateful content is the third most common risk. There are several other situations online that may lead to a risky real life situations with the most dangerous to be considered the meeting with an online contact offline. Where the teenagers seem to encounter the greater risk is at home. Internet use at home occurs for longer periods and often with less supervision that is likely to increase risk. Furthermore, even if there are relatively few children who use the internet in an internet cafĂŠ or at a friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house, the absence of supervision makes these risky locations. For more information on risks and gender variations for using the internet, please refer to the relevant project report.

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Log-on Back to Life / Table 2. A classification of online opportunities and risks for 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 children (source: Livingstone & Haddon, 2009) The Internet and Content: Contact: Conduct: the Virtual Social Child as Child as Child as actor Environment

recipient

participant

Educational resources

Contact with others who share oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interests

Self-initiated or collaborative learning

Global information

Exchange among interest groups

Concrete forms of civic engagement

Creativity and selfexpression

Diversity of resources

Being invited/inspir ed to create or participate

User-generated content creation

Identity and social connection

Advice (personal/ health/ sexual tec.)

Social networking, shared experiences with others

Expression of identity

Commercial

Advertising, spam, sponsorship

Tracking/har vesting personal information

Gambling, illegal downloads, hacking

RISKS

OPPORTUNITIES

Educational learning and digital literacy Participation and civic engagement

Aggressive

Violent/ gruesome/ hateful content

Being bulled, harassed or stalked

Bullying or harassing another

Sexual

Pornographi c/harmful sexual content

Meeting strangers, being groomed

Creating/ uploading pornographic material

Values

Racist, biased info/advice (eg, drugs)

Self-harm, unwelcome persuasion

Providing advice eg, suicide/pro-anorexia

2017-1-1TR01-KA201-046632 / Log-on Back to Life The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

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M. 1

Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01-KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 The Internet and 1.Comment on the following statement: the Virtual Social Environment

The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

“We spend a large share of our existence in the virtual world.”

1.4 Practical Applications

2017-1-1TR01-KA201-046632 / Log-on Back to Life The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

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2.Specialists claim that the Internet is a necessity Which, in your opinion, would be: major benefits of the Internet

major disadvantages of the Internet

3. Cyberspace is a purely operational and task-oriented environment, but there is also an emotional and humanizing side attached to it. Present at least five features of the cyberspace-based human relationships

M. 1

Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01-KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR014. How do the online and the offline environment influence the user’s KA201-046632 The Internet and personality? the Virtual Social Environment

name some “coexistence rules” for the virtual world

mention some consequences of not respecting these rules

2017-1-1TR01-KA201-046632 / Log-on Back to Life The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

M. 1

Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01-KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01Assessment quiz KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social 1. How does the Internet influence our daily lives? Environment

2. Name and briefly describe three advantages and three disadvantages of social networks

2017-1-1TR01-KA201-046632 / Log-on Back to Life The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

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33 Resources

Bosch, O. and Revilla, M. (2018). The use of emojis by Millennials. RECSM - Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2009). Internet marketing. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education. Jones, J. (2015). Emoji is dragging us back to the dark ages – and all we can

smile.

[online]

The

Guardian.

Available

at:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/201 5/may/27/emoji-language-dragging-us-back-to-the-dark-ages-yellowsmiley-face [Accessed 9 Sep. 2018]. Livingstone, S, and Haddon, L (2009) EU Kids Online: Final report. LSE, London: EU Kids Online. (EC Safer Internet Plus Programme Deliverable D6.5) Morahan-Martin, J. and Schumacher, P. (2003). Loneliness and social uses of the Internet. Computers in Human Behavior, 19(6), pp.659671. Ólafsson, K., Livingstone, S., & Haddon, L. (2014). Children’s Use of Online Technologies in Europe. A review of the European evidence base. LSE, London: EU Kids Online. Revised edition. Online resources: https://www.upf.edu/documents/3966940/6839730/Working+Paper _Emoji_Substantive.pdf/bbbf386b-864f-3116-b8fb-dece14760a45 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/201 5/may/27/emoji-language-dragging-us-back-to-the-dark-ages-yellowsmiley-face

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M. 1 34

Log-on Back to Life / 2017-1-1TR01-KA201-046632 The Internet and the Virtual Social Environment

Log-on Back to Life / https://www.businessinsider.com/most-popular-emoji-us-apple-2017-11 2017-1-1TR01KA201-046632 The https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563203000402 Internet and the Virtual Social Environment https://www.dependencias.pt/ficheiros/conteudos/files/Children.pdf

http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU%20Kids%20I% 20(20069)/EU%20Kids%20Online%20I%20Reports/EUKidsOnlineFinalReport.pdf Images: Antonia, G. (2017). Back to the future: From Hieroglyphics to Emojis â&#x20AC;&#x201D; The full revolution

the

image.

[online]

Medium.

Available

at:

https://medium.com/@gaialondon/back-to-the-future-from-hieroglyphicsto-emojis-the-full-revolution-of-the-image-2a17c0c7daef [Accessed 10 Oct. 2018]. Eagar, M. (2017). What is the difference between decentralized and distributed

systems?.

[online]

Medium.

Available

at:

https://medium.com/distributed-economy/what-is-the-difference-betweendecentralized-and-distributed-systems-f4190a5c6462

[Accessed

Dec.

2018]. We Are Social. (2017). Digital in 2017: Global Overview. [online] Available at: https://wearesocial.com/special-reports/digital-in-2017-global-overview [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018]

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Partners İstanbul Valiliği Address: Hırka-i Şerif Mahallesi, Adnan Menderes Bulvarı, No:64 Fatih - İstanbul TURKEY E-mail: ilse@istanbul.gov.tr Web: www.istanbulproje.gov.tr Developmental Center Of Thessaly Address: Fournonision 4 / Trikala GREECE E-mail: info@aketh.gr Web: www.aketh.gr Università Degli Studi Di Milano Address: Via Festa Del Perdono 7 ITALY E-mail: international.agreements@unimi.it Web: www.unimi.it Inspectoratul Scolar Judetean Iasi Address: Str Nicolae Balcescu, Nr 26/Iasi ROMANIA E-mail: proiecte.isjiasi@yahoo.com Web: www.isjiasi.ro Yaşar Üniversitesi Address: Universite Caddesi Agacliyol / Izmir TURKEY E-mail: euc@yasar.edu.tr Web: www.yasar.edu.tr

35-37

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