Video Blogging and our Youth

As part of this weeks assignment, I checked out two new video blogging sites VLOG Central (formally VBLOG Central) and VOBBO. I also looked at some of the VBLOG out on YouTube. This is a technology that is obviously immensely popular. As someone who has never really enjoyed being in front of the camera, it is a capability that I do not see the appeal of. But it is obviously there especially with our youth. From a personal perspective of having been in the military, I see a wonderful tool that could be used to link families to loved once far away. I know my son in Iraq is a big user of Skype and I occasionally borrow a friends netbook to video conference with my son... but that is really more of a communication tool that video blogging. I watched over 50 videos this week and some were very intertaining and fun while some were just silly (Cherry Popping and extreme fruit violence) and others were of very questionable content. This is definitely a technology with pluses and minuses.
On the positive side, I see an ability for students to express themselves when other forms of communication are difficult. Students who can not write a good paper can sit sometimes sit and talk to the camera to express themselves and to show what they have learned. Video responses give teachers an additional way to assess what students have learned and they provide students with a feeling of success that they were able to complete an assignment.
But this new technology comes with a great risk that it will be used in an inappropriate manner by our children. The children of 2009 have a different moral view of what is right and wrong that is more often influenced my thier peers that by the adults of their world. This new technology is one that requires we somehow teach our children how to use it properly. It is sad, but in many cases our children are doing more harm to themselves than the worst pedophiles. There is a growing base of stories about children and young adults using cell phone cameras and other video devices to take inappropriate pictures of themselves to share with friends. Once sent, these pictures are no longer under control and they often have very negative consequences. There are also a growing number of adult websites that provide similar capabilities to YouTube. I may be old fashioned, but somehow we need to teach our youth how to use these technologies in an appropriate manner that does not place them at risk. This children and young adults may think its okay today; and maybe they can avoid embarassment now, but there will come a time when they are adults with families of their own that these video exploits will come back to haunt them. Data on the internet lives forever. I do not know the solution to the problem, but somehow we need to put some thought into what technology we make available to our children before it can be misused.