Not a parent but was a computer teacher for 10 years in public schools. This still sounds like a "the kids these days" kind of thing. I used to think this way but kids are really resilient, they adapt and change and catch up to most situations. I have witnessed it time and time again.

When I moved to another country and didn't know many people I turned more toward internet communities and some of those relationships became real ones too. One doesn't supplant the other. Kids understand this better than adults do. When I taught internet safety lessons the kids understood the differences in behavior online and in real life. It was the adults who didn't. Adults generally thought there was one way t behave and you could apply it to online and offline worlds. Kids always understood the 2 and their differences.

One student told me, adults say it is so bad to spend hours and hours a day on the computer but when we get a job some of us are going to be spending hours and hours emailing, repsonding to emails, etc. What's the difference?

Sure they are doing work but is it really any different from doing other mind numbing tasks? I'm sure spending hours a day related to email and its associated tasks is just as bad for you as playing video games.

Anway, limits are good but for relationship sake, nt for saving your children from the evils of computers.

I'm very sleepy and this may ot have been coherent, and I'm still smarting from being called a spammer, *wipes tear away*

LOL both in online and offline worlds there is a big difference between saying "this is spam" and saying "you are a spammer". Do you feel it?

*not feeling it*

And you teach children? No wonder public education is a failure if teachers do not feel the difference here... every kid does, btw, online and offline...

*still not feeling it*

You cannot bait me into some silly argument. I must have been such a terrible teacher in the US because the best aviation graduate school in France hired me to teach English. I must be the cause of "the failure" of public education. I really must not know what I am doing.

Francestales,

If you believe in yourself that is all that matters .

francetales wrote:

*still not feeling it*

You cannot bait me into some silly argument. I must have been such a terrible teacher in the US because the best aviation graduate school in France hired me to teach English. I must be the cause of "the failure" of public education. I really must not know what I am doing.

LOL, the same difference is here. I never told you you are the reason of public education failure

And, while your English and French skills may be excellent, I think your skills in psychology and especially children psychology need some refreshing/improvement.

In the end no one really knows.  I had teachers that I thought were excellent and that other people did not like and vice versa.  Each teacher has a special gift, and I think everyone has something to contribute in this lifetime.  In the end none of this matters.

francetales wrote:

*not feeling it*

What Misha is saying (I think) is that there is a difference between some one who spams the forums all the time, being called a "spammer. "

And you - who dropped a link to the same hub in at least 5 forum threads. And was told that was spam.

I told you the same thing.

But, you are not a spammer because you do not do that all the time.

You were excited about a blog post and you wanted to tell everyone about it.

But you chose to leave the same link and message on several forum threads at the same time.

That is spam.

You are not a spammer.

Unless you do the same thing tomorrow. And the day after. Then you will be banned. Misha is giving you good advice.

In my hub - "Does Mentoring online work" - I give a perfect example of how the internet can enhance relationship building. 

I also agree with Misha - "even partial restricting does not work"

I think the Solution is simple with kids (not easy, just simple) - teach kids to think for themselves - to look at the big picture........ but more than that! - "look at the picture through different frames."

That is an NLP technique where you do not change the picture you view - but if look at it from different points of view, thus we would see different things. Changing the frame around the picture of life truly makes the picture of life different.

Mark Knowles wrote:

francetales wrote:

*not feeling it*

What Misha is saying (I think) is that there is a difference between some one who spams the forums all the time, being called a "spammer. "

And you - who dropped a link to the same hub in at least 5 forum threads. And was told that was spam.

I told you the same thing.

But, you are not a spammer because you do not do that all the time.

You were excited about a blog post and you wanted to tell everyone about it.

But you chose to leave the same link and message on several forum threads at the same time.

That is spam.

You are not a spammer.

Unless you do the same thing tomorrow. And the day after. Then you will be banned. Misha is giving you good advice.

Mark,
Yeah, that was pretty much my point.
I never thought I have to go into such detail with adult, let alone teacher...
Because telling a kid "you are a loser" brings up losers, "you are a thief" brings up thieves, etc. In my ivory tower I thought every teacher should be aware of this... Guess it was another illusion...

Misha
you said, do you feel it, and I repsonded *not feeling it*, ummmm that's irony or satire or something like me saying yes I understand your point but I'm not feeling it, it doesn't mean I don't understand it, and then you go on to attack my intelligence and ability as a teacher. Maybe your social skills are what needs brushing up on. I would never think I knew someone well enough through a few forum posts to say such things. I cannot find where I personally attacked you but I can find a few examples of personal attacks on your part.

BTW
I agree with you about the limiting use doesn't work. I'm against limiting as a way to "save" children from the perils of Facebook, Myspace, *insert this months new evil here*. The use of limiting to "set limits" for children to provide structure and expectation is important, but that can be done with anything.

If a child wants to spend 8 hours a day on Myspace a parent has already failed somewhere else. There is a bigger problem than Myspace and limiting use of Myspace is not going to address that problem. The problem didn't begin with Myspace ad is not going to end with limiting Myspace use. That's a cop out. Limits need to be set well in advance of a problem. Limits should be proactive and not reactive. When limits are in reactive they almost always fail.

What a nice message. I don't usually get too upset when people criticize teachers and the job they do because it just simply is not possible to imagine what it is like if you haven't done it before. And if you have, you generally don't say the kind of things that get said by the criticizers.

It is easy to come across mean if you are dealing with children who don't have limits and expectations set at home and are not used to it. It used to bother me but now I know what I am doing so if little Johnny doesn't like me tough.

Good teachers are the most hard working people I have ever met. Teaching is not a job you can do half heartedly. Sure there are some that try, but they usually quit. It is too tough a job to not fully committ to it.

Bon Courage, as the French say, never Bon Chance or good luck.

LOL you seem to talk to yourself Francetales

Well, I witness there was a post from Sweetiepie here Francetales is answering. Why she deleted it is beyond my understanding.

Honestly I delete some comments because I reconsider what people will say.  However, all I was saying was as a former substitute teacher I commend teachers and I think they deserve lots of respect. 

Also, saying things are beyond your understanding is sort of silly.  I have my reasons, please think before you speak .

francetales wrote:

Misha
you said, do you feel it, and I repsonded *not feeling it*, ummmm that's irony or satire or something like me saying yes I understand your point but I'm not feeling it, it doesn't mean I don't understand it, and then you go on to attack my intelligence and ability as a teacher. Maybe your social skills are what needs brushing up on. I would never think I knew someone well enough through a few forum posts to say such things. I cannot find where I personally attacked you but I can find a few examples of personal attacks on your part.

As most arguments online and offline, this seems to be a result of misunderstanding. I definitely misunderstood what you tried to say, hence my reaction I'm glad we are more or less on the same page now. I don't think I made any personal attack on you, but if you feel that way, I apologize.

My social skills definitely are not perfect, and I am working hard on improving them, thank you for pointing this out

To avoid further misunderstanding, please take a note that enclosing words into stars does not make them sound ironic. This syntax is reserved for expressing something there are no smilies for - or for using instead of all caps. Also, using irony in multi-cultural communication often gets misinterpreted, and I try to avoid it as much as I can.

SweetiePie wrote:

Honestly I delete some comments because I reconsider what people will say.  However, all I was saying was as a former substitute teacher I commend teachers and I think they deserve lots of respect. 

Also, saying things are beyond your understanding is sort of silly.  I have my reasons, please think before you speak .

Hey, lady, you made Francetales looking silly. Usually people apologize when they make something like this unintentionally.
And I don't see anything silly in saying that something is beyond my understanding when it is

Stop calling me hey lady.  I did not see Francestales had posted this.  I am sorry if it looked funny, but in all the times I have posted anything Misha, you have never made one complimentary comment towards me.  I have my reasons as I reconsidered what people would say about my post.  You compliment other ladies on the forums make nice comments towards them, but not once with me.  Stop telling me how to behave because I think you should behave more nicely also.  You could try making a nice comment about what I say once and while rather than always challenging me.

francetales wrote:

What a nice message. I don't usually get too upset when people criticize teachers and the job they do because it just simply is not possible to imagine what it is like if you haven't done it before. And if you have, you generally don't say the kind of things that get said by the criticizers.

It is easy to come across mean if you are dealing with children who don't have limits and expectations set at home and are not used to it. It used to bother me but now I know what I am doing so if little Johnny doesn't like me tough.

Good teachers are the most hard working people I have ever met. Teaching is not a job you can do half heartedly. Sure there are some that try, but they usually quit. It is too tough a job to not fully committ to it.

Bon Courage, as the French say, never Bon Chance or good luck.

Sorry I made you look silly.  That was not my intention.  I did not even see you had posted a reply.  I think teaching is a very challenging job and I comment you .

SweetiePie wrote:

Stop calling me hey lady.  I did not see Francestales had posted this.  I am sorry if it looked funny, but in all the times I have posted anything Misha, you have never made one complimentary comment towards me.  I have my reasons as I reconsidered what people would say about my post.  You compliment other ladies on the forums make nice comments towards them, but not once with me.  Stop telling me how to behave because I think you should behave more nicely also.  You could try making a nice comment about what I say once and while rather than always challenging me. 

I love you, too
Why don't you try to make some nice comment towards me instead of following me around the forums, opposing whatever I say, and trying to command me? I surely will reciprocate. Remember old saying - what goes around comes around?
Oh, and I actually like one of your previous avatars - the one with a necklace