Internet and Social Networking

Internet and Social Networking

Technological progress is increasingly influencing the way people relate, communicate, socialize, educate, and live. A recent rapid change in technological advancements has resulted in competing views about the impact of emerging technologies on social interaction, leisure behavior, and health. The utopian discourse assumes a positive influence of the internet by increasing social support, and improving mental and psychological health. Some researchers claim that internet is a social artifact and a medium of socialization that has the potential to reduce differences of race, gender, and class (Barry Wellman, 2011). There are those that view the internet as a dangerous medium that encourages deviance, social isolation, and depression. This write up looks at these contradictory views of the influences of the internet on young adults (18 – 25 years) in Kenya by assessing the relationships between the internet uses and emerging technologies on social involvement.

Although the expectation that the internet could transform social interaction and break barriers of diversity; its use has also reinforced societal and cultural values such individualism and consumerism. Technology and leisure develop from the social interactions with the environment and they become a product of the relationship between the social groups. Technology is a political tool that has the potential to reduce differences of race, gender, and class but its uses and design carry some social exclusion purposes. It has accentuated differences between those individuals with access and those who are mere spectators of technological advances. Thus, access to technology is related to power and only those with economical power can benefit from the internet uses leading to the increase of social exclusion.

Involvement in online communities does not mean lack of participation in offline community (Wellman & Gullia, 1999). The internet is a social artifact and a medium of socialization. According to Pruijt (2002), internet communication tends to complement real-world interaction and does not destroy social capital. The Internet can support and enhance communities that to some extent depend on face-to-face interaction. But at the same time computer use also tends to be an individualistic activity which is only shared in a virtual space and time. The argument remains as to whether the Internet has positive or negative influences in social interaction and social support. Kraut et al., (1998) explains that weak and strong social ties depend on frequency of contacts, feeling, and physical proximity and that the use of the Internet may shape these ties and how people maintain their relationships.

Kraut et al., also discusses the potential of the Internet in decreasing social involvement and in consequence

diminishing the individual’s psychological and physical well-being. Putnam (1995) argues that this social

disengagement is associated with poor quality of life and a decreased in participation in social activities (i.e. dinner parties, voluntary work, church, etc). Mallory and Miles (2000) suggest that emerging or disruptive technologies are innovations that have dramatic influences on how we live, work and play. These technologies have transformed leisure practices and disassociated leisure from its traditional conceptualization.

Leisure is no longer a disposition of the mind, spontaneous and genuine; it has become a disposition of the society and reduced to “empty time.” The question is:has the essence of leisure been damaged by technological advancements?

One of the major impacts of the internet has been the traditional separation of work and leisure. Technology inserts work into peoples’ lives which make it harder to keep balance and the work-leisure separation. E-mail and computers allow us to be away from the workplace but not from work. In this sense, technology has helped us feel less guilty. In consequence, secluded places for leisure experience are hard to find and technology has not liberated us for full and free enjoyment of leisure; instead, technology has enslaved us. There is a decline of face-to-face interactions due to technological advancement and at the same time there is an increase of seclusion and isolation. Mesch (2001) states that computer use is an individualistic activity; that the user is alone in a physical space while interacting with others online.

2011.07.16 ©

Challenges facing computer education in Kenya

Challenges facing computer education in Kenya

While ICT continues to advance in western and Asian countries, African countries still experience a lag in its implementation, and that continues to widen the digital and knowledge divides. In a recent study by Kiptalam et.al (2010), observed that access to ICT facilities is a major challenge facing most African countries, with a ratio of one computer to 150 students against the ratio of 1:15 students in the developed countries. Whereas results indicate that ICT has penetrated many sectors including banking, transportation, communications, and medical services, the Kenyan educational system seems to lag behind. Further, recent report by the National Council for Science and Technology (2010) indicated that computer use in Kenyan classrooms is still in its early phases, and concluded that the perceptions and experiences of teachers and administrators do play an important role in the use of computers in Kenyan classrooms.

Some of the challenges facing implementation of computer education in Kenya  are;

·         Lack of qualified teachers to teach ICT in schools; The demand for ICT learning has been tremendous and the number of teachers who are trained to teach ICT cannot meet the demand. There are more students willing to be taught computing skills than there are teaches to transfer the skills.

·         Lack of computers; Computers are still very expensive and despite spirited efforts by the government agencies, NGO, corporate organizations and individuals to donate computers to as many schools as possible, there still remains a big percentage of the schools unable to purchase computers for use by their pupils.

·         Many schools are still not yet connected to electricity; Kenya being a developing country, the government has not been able to connect all parts of the country to the national electricity grid. Consequently those schools that fall under such areas are left handicapped and may not be able to offer computer studies.

·         Computers are still expensive in Kenya, in a country with a GDP of $1600, majority of the individuals and schools cannot afford to buy a computer and consider it as a luxury item, more expensive than a TV. While 2^nd hand computers cost as little as $150 and branded new computers being sold at $500 or higher.

·         Broken down computers; while a good number of schools have benefited from donated used computers, they have not been adequately equipped with the same on maintenance and repair, hence its very common to see a schools computer lab full of broken down computers, some repairable and some not. This has actually been a major problem, and the government has now put strict measures on any person, NGO or corporate bodies willing to donate 2^nd hand computers. (It is seen as a dumping ground); e-waste management.

·         Burglary; the fact that computers are still very expensive in Kenya, makes them a target for thieves who usually have ready markets to another party at a much less figure. This has made many schools to incur extra expenses trying to burglar proof the computer rooms. This extra expense makes some schools shy away from purchasing computers for their students.

·         Fear by the administration; there is still a strong perception especially by the older generation that computers require highly skilled personnel to operate them, while this may not be the case, some school administrators also fear that their students will be exposed to adult sites and other undesired sites, through the use of the internet. Some also fear the infection of viruses to their computers leading to data loss, while this may be true to some extent, proper education on the safe use of computers and help alleviate some of this fears.

·         Fear by the teacher, the teacher may fear being rendered irrelevant by the introduction of computers in his/her class. The ‘feel’ that the teacher still remains an authority and a ‘know it all’ in class is something that most teachers cherish, and anything that makes them otherwise is deemed an enemy of the classroom.

·         Lack of internet or slow connectivity; most schools are not able to connect to the world wide web, due to the high costs involved in the connectivity. On average, it may cost approximately $120 per month to connect to about 15 computers on a bandwidth of 128/64kbps. This is considered as very expensive for a very slow speed.

·         Lack of initiative by the community leaders; the community leaders who are charged with looking at the interests of a given community do not see the need to purchase and subsequent installations of computers to their schools as a priority. They consider health care, provision of water and other amenities as more important than buying computers for their schools.

·         Obsolete computers lower the morale of both the teacher and the student; it is very common to find some schools using very old computers running on win98 or win 95.

·         Increased moral degradation – internet pornography, cyber bullying and other anti-social behaviors is a worrying emerging problem.

CONCLUSION

The dilemma which arises in providing educational technology stems from a lack of financial resources and a limited distributive capacity. In addition, many African countries have not been able to employ teachers, and provide resources to keep up with this demand. This brings about compromised quality of education. Further, many African governments face the predicament of educational expansion that corresponds with economic development. Despite the setbacks, access to education is a strong focus of most governments.

 Kenya as has put in place an ICT policy that aims to improve the livelihoods of Kenyans by ensuring the availability of accessible, efficient, reliable and affordable ICT services. The national policy addresses several sections, among them includes; Information technology, Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Postal services. However, it is the section on information technology that sets out the objectives and strategies pertaining to ICT and education. The relevant objective in this section states that government will encourage

 “…the use of ICT in schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions in the country so as to improve the quality of teaching and learning.”

 ICT can play a significant role in equalizing opportunities for marginalized groups and communities. But the paradox is that for those groups that are unable to cross the technology divide, ICT is yet another means to further marginalize them. Education has a major role to play in resolving this problem. Thus, unless ICT becomes part of both the delivery and content of education, the disadvantage will deepen and development will suffer. But the failure to use ICT is itself a result of the digital and knowledge divides that exist, and their causes are deeply embedded in the complex historical and socio-cultural context of the country. Fortunately, with the Vision 2030 goals, the Kenyan government has begun to implement strategies that will address these paradoxes.

Class Experiment on use of Internet in Classroom - Kenya

Class Experiment on Internet in usage in class by secondary school students

In my school we had new software installed in the computer lab. The software allowed the teacher to control the students PCs from one location which we would call the “teacher control centre” (TCC). The TCC allowed the teacher to view all the students’ workstations and even take over the control of the students PC without the teacher having to physically move to the particular student. The students were not informed of the features of the newly installed software.

I sampled a group of students from form 3, they fell in the age bracket of (15-16) years. They were allowed an uninterrupted 1 hour session to browse the Internet; all the while I kept an eye on the TCC, monitoring what each group was doing.

Observation

 I did not give them any prior information on what websites to visit, within 5 minutes, of the twenty 21 computers that we had in the room (see figure 1), 11 had already logged in to a social website; facebook, 4 were on youtube, 3 were on popular European soccer clubs 1 was on an entertainment site 1 was on adult site and 1 was still googling. The computers were shared between 2 students and about 4 were shared by 3 students.

After 1 hour, I blocked the popular SNS and none of the computers could access it. I noted that a group of students affected were getting irritated and they tried logging into other sites, next I blocked youtube, the irritation now became more evident as the noise levels in the lab was raised. I next moved to block the sites of popular European teams, and the reaction was almost instantaneous, some students clicked and others started peeping at others screens, one student was even courageous to come forward and tell me that the net was not working. I feigned ignorance and told him to try other sites, I even suggested in passing.”…..try educational sites “.  The students who had initially taken over the control of the computer in their work-station gave up the mice and the keyboard and they became passive participants.

For the next 1 hour I observed that students were keen to search on educational materials in science, history, computing, career opportunities and institutions of higher learning. See the table below

Activity by the students on the Internet (Sites visited)	No. of computers observed	Activity on the students monitors after blocking “facebook”	Activity on the students monitors after blocking “Youtube”	Activity on the students monitors after blocking “Soccer teams site”
Facebook Youtube European Soccer teams Entertainment sites Adult sites Others (Google, educational sites etc)	11 4 3 1 1 1	- 9 4 3 2 4	- - 5 2 1 13	- - - 2 1 18
Total	21	21	21	21

It was very evident that social networking services (SNS) such as facebook is very popular with students. It was not possible to establish the number of students who had registered on facebook. 

Of particular concern were the students who visited the adult sites. In spite of several posters displayed on the wall, and verbal instruction given to the students, some still went ahead and browsed the adult sites. I sought to know where they had got information about those sites, and the response was almost instantaneous; “From friends”. Interestingly almost all the students knew the code name of the adult sites “gwati”. This is a clearer indicator that peer influence plays a big role in motivating the students on visiting the adult sites.

Conclusion

The above case study should however not be used to make a generalized conclusion that the same effect would be observed in a different set –up say for example a girl school, or a rural school. A more comprehensive study would probably yield different results although its only a slight deviation that would be expected.

This clearly demonstrated that, students when left on their own to use the internet will only engage in areas that seem to entertain and socialize.  Proper supervision, control and guidance will help the students unlock their potential in looking for information that will have direct impact on their academic life. Further when 2 or more students share a computer, they are more creative in terms of the information that they look search for in the net.

As pointed out, Internet appears to have some educational effects on children’s attitude towards learning. For example, Clifford Stoll(2000) argues that multimedia systems such as computers or Internet may lower or decrease children’s problem-solving ability, intellectual curiosity and motivation for learning.

However, this can be overturned by offering guided supervision to the students on the use of the Internet.

Further, implementation of “Information Moral education” is as important as using an interactive hands-on approach to moral learning. Teachers and educators should emphasize the need to balance both the positive and negative aspects of ICT.